Through The Crystal, Darkly
by cheri1
Summary: Eleven/Amy. Labyrinth crossover. Co-written with Carol and takes place after Flesh and Stone. The Doctor loves Amy but after an argument, he finds that Amy's been spirited away by Jareth, the Goblin King, and he must do everything to save her from him.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"So, where do you want to go?" the Doctor asked while moving around the console and Amy sat on the jump seat, looking at him. It had been a few days since they had left River Song after fighting the Weeping Angels and he knew he needed something to take Amy's mind off of her upcoming wedding and her nearly attacking him in her bedroom.

"I don't care," Amy said when she got up and walked to the console, standing beside him. He quickly moved away from her as she sighed and rolled her eyes. "Doctor, come on, I'm not going to do anything."

"I'm just being cautious," he said as she sighed then nodded.

"Have you ever been married?" she asked as he glanced at her then looked at the screen and tilted his head side to side.

"Yeah, I was married…" he said as he flipped a few switches and she moved closer, looking at him. "But that was a LONG time ago!"

"Were you married to River?"

"What? No, I wasn't," he said then thought about the idea of him being married to River and pouted.

"I think she'd be a great wife for you. Both of you like getting into trouble," she said with a grin and he glared at her.

"That will be enough of that," he said as he pointed a finger at her then noticed that he wasn't wearing his tweed coat and scratched the back of his head. "Where is my coat?"

"I don't know."

"Oh," he said when he slapped his hands on his thighs and spun around in a circle. "One of the angels had it!"

"Don't you have another one?" she asked when a tweed coat that looked like the one he wore appeared on the jump seat and she picked it up. "Oh, look, another one."

"Thank you, Darling," he whispered then placed the tweed coat on and smiled. He moved around the console when he noticed something on the screen and blinked. "What is that?"

"It looks like another crack," Amy said when she looked at the screen and the Doctor nodded.

"But where is it?" he asked while holding up a finger and checked the screens. "That's odd. It's in the middle of a park."

"Are we going to go check it out?"

"Sure," he said with a grin and pulled the main lever. The engines hummed around them when the TARDIS started moving and they held onto the console.

Thunder rolled across the dark sky as large raindrops fell onto the cobblestone streets and the shutters slammed shut. The wind howled as the small shop signed rocked back and forth and tiny figures scampered to and from the small stone buildings. The lightning lit up their green skin faces as they went inside and closed the doors behind them. A bright flash of light lit up a sign that read Goblin City and a crow flew off into the air, cawing as it headed for one of the dead trees.

At the top of a mountain stood a large castle of black and gray stone and the gargoyles looked down at the courtyard below. One of the gargoyles shivered as it looked to the sky and sighed, wiping the rain out of its red eyes.

"Blimey, he's in a mood," it grumbled when the gargoyle next to it opened an umbrella and the gargoyle blinked. "Where did you get that?"

"I got it from the Junkyard Woman," the other gargoyle said then handed the gargoyle another umbrella and the gargoyle opened it, placing it over its head.

The rain fell in sheets as a dwarf ducked under the alcove and held his spray can against his chest. He had been spraying the rosebushes for fairies when the sky grew dark and he looked up at the castle.

"Hmpt, what's got him going this time?" Hoggle asked as the rain fell harder and he settled down on the ground and watched the lightning light up the sky.

The lights from behind the stain glass shimmered like yellow eyes against the dark stone as the rain splashed against the glass and the thunder roared in the sky. The wind blew one of the windows open while the white lace curtains fluttered and a low moan filled the bedroom. The bedroom was huge with a large window to the right of the large wooden doors and the stain glass shimmered in bright colors. The walls were stone and were covered with paintings and a blue carpet covered the floor. The furniture was posh and elegant and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. A four poster bed was at the top of a small staircase and had a ruby red duvet and pillow cases with gold trim. The fire in the large stone fireplace crackled while the torches cast long shadows on the walls and a lone figure stood in front of the fireplace.

His long, wild hair was a white/blonde color and hung loosely across his shoulders and back. The fire danced in his different colored eyes and his eyebrows were arched in anger. What some would find odd was the fact that his right eye was blue and his left eye was brown. The pupil of his left eye was wide open but that deformity did not impair his vision nor did it cause him any pain. He had a flawless lithe body and a flawlessly handsome face.

He was wearing a tight white shirt, open at the top, a black leather waistcoat, black leather gloves, a gold chain hung around his neck and a triangle shaped amulet, with a circle with an infinity symbol on it, hung from the end, tight gray pants and black leather boots.

Jareth watched the flames when he turned then walked to the window and looked outside. He listened to the storm when he looked at the sky and saw the lightning darting across the sky. Between the flashes of lightning, he could just make out a crack in the sky when he stood on the ledge then closed his eyes.

In a blur of white and feathers, a white owl flew into the storm as it soared higher and higher, fighting the fierce winds as it headed toward the crack. The wind buffed at the white owl as it moved closer and closer until the crack was only inches away from it and the crack seemed to open, shining in a white light.

_"What is that?" _Jareth thought as the owl moved closer when the white light flared and the owl screeched.

Hoggle snorted when he heard the screeching sound then ran out of the alcove and saw something falling to the ground.

"Oh bother," he said when he ran to the wall and picked up a net then ran toward the falling object, catching it in the net. He looked down at the white owl as it breathed hard and fast and he sighed. A part of his brain wanted to just break the owl's neck and toss it in the Bog of Eternal Stench but the other half knew he didn't have the guts to do it and he walked toward the castle, the net bouncing on his shoulder.

The TARDIS bounced and shook as they held onto the console when they felt a bump and the wheezing sound filled the air.

"You're riding with the parking break on again, aren't you," Amy teased as the Doctor sighed and moved the switch up.

"No, I wasn't," he said as he headed for the door and she followed him. They walked outside while he closed and locked the door and placed the key in his pocket. The TARDIS had landed in a small park and the sunshine sparkled on the leaves. Four intersecting streets boxed in the park and a wide variety of houses were across the street from the park. The Doctor looked around when he took her hand and they started walking down the path to their left. "Right, where is the crack?"

"I think it's over there," Amy said as she pointed to the trees and they walked toward them. The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket as he scanned the area then frowned and looking at the reading.

"That's odd. It's not here."

"Where did it go?"

"How should I know?" he said as he walked away and scanned the area. Amy followed him as he looked up and down the pavement and sighed. The Doctor stopped near a statue of a sheepdog when he leaned a hand against the stone and looked up at it. "Now why would someone make a statue of a sheepdog?"

"Uh, can we get away from it? I have had enough statues to last a life time," she said and he nodded. Scanning the area, he headed down the path while she looked at the name on the statue. "What sort of name is Ambrosius?"

Hoggle walked into the bedroom when he walked up the stairs and stood at the foot of the bed. He dumped the white owl on the bed then watched it slowly change into Jareth and Jareth moaned, opening his eyes. He blinked a few times when he looked up at saw Hoggle standing at the foot of his bed.

"Did you see it?" he asked and Hoggle folded his arms across his chest.

"Did I see what?" he asked.

"Did you see that crack in the sky?"

"I saw nothing but the rain and you falling out of the sky."

"There was this crack in the sky. It was shining like a sun and...and…and there was a presence in the light."

"I think you're brain fried from being hit by lightning," Hoggle said then snorted and Jareth growled.

"Watch your words, Haggle!" Jareth said as he tried to sit up then felt dizzy and flopped down on the bed. "Go fetch me a towel so I can dry off."

"Get it yourself," Hoggle said when he left the door and slammed the door behind him. Jareth slowly stood up when he sat on the edge of the bed and placed his hands on his knees. He slowly removed the leather boots when he placed the boots on the floor and stood up. He moved the duvet and sheets back when he undid the black leather belt and pulled his pants down. Stepping out of his pants, he removed the waist coat then his shirt and dropped them to the floor.

Walking toward the washstand, he picked up the towel when he dried his body off then placed the towel back on the washstand and sighed. He walked to the fireplace as he snapped his fingers and a royal blue dressing gown wrapped itself around his body. He tied the dressing gown closed then placed his hand on the stone and looked into the flames, watching them dancing on the logs. He tried to remember what he saw as he placed his forehead against his hand and closed his eyes. His mind drifted back to the crack in the sky when he saw the white light and concentrated on what he saw in the light. Suddenly a face appeared before his eyes as something whispered a name in his ears and he smiled, opening his eyes.

"Amelia Pond," he whispered then turned and walked to the stairs. Going up the stairs, he headed for the bed when he crawled under the duvet and pulled it around him. Closing his eyes, Jareth drifted off to sleep while a smile crossed his lips and the torches lowered while darkness filled the room.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: There's been speculation that there were two versions of the Doctor in Flesh and Stone when Amy was in the forest. The one that spoke tenderly to her and told her to remember what he said when she was seven might be a future version of himself that came back to give her the message or he's the Doctor at the end of Eleventh Hour when he vanished. I think it is two different versions of the Doctor so that's why the Doctor is confused in this story when Amy brings up the pep talk in the forest.

Chapter Two

As Amy and the Doctor explored the park, the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to scan for the crack, making sure that the other people in the park couldn't see what he was doing. After twenty minutes of fruitless searching, he ventured near a duck pond and stopped. Unlike the duck pond he had seen when he first met Amy as an adult, this one was teeming with ducks, honking and splashing and occasionally fighting with each other. The Doctor noticed a wooden bench near the bank and walked over to it. He sat down and stared out at the ducks while he thought about what had happened recently between him and Amy. The attempted seduction took him by surprise. He cared about Amy but Amy was going to be married soon and he figured that her heart belonged to Rory. He never realized that she fancied him to the point of wanting to snog his brains out and possibly rip his clothes off his body. He shook his head. Not even Rose had done that and Rose had been hopelessly in love with him. It wasn't that he didn't care for Amy. He did. It was just that...

"It's just that you're afraid of being hurt again," he muttered to himself. "Cor blimey, when did life become so complicated?"

He stared out at a couple of mallards swimming around in front of him while he thought. Rose had been the first true love of his life but that was a different man and a different time. What had started as affection for her in his ninth life grew into infatuation and a bit of a relationship. But he had changed in mind and body and now Rose seemed like a distant sweet memory to him. He would always have a special place in his hearts for her but to be frank, she was not his type anymore. Amy on the other hand was vivacious and sweet and independant and had a thirst for adventure that he felt surpassed even Rose. Not to mention the hair, that ginger hair. Damn it, why couldn't he be ginger for once? But anyway, he thought Amy was amazing but...he just couldn't have a relationship with her, not when she was getting married soon. Although...

"Would Amy have waited fourteen years for Rory?" he muttered to himself.

He shook his head.

"Doesn't matter. You know it'll only end in heartbreak for us both. Just like Rose. You experimented with loving a human and it failed. Learn from your mistake and walk away, don't be an idiot and fall in love again."

He sighed. There was also River to consider, of course. Knowing what he knew of her, that apparently he would also have a relationship with her and possibly marriage and knowing what would happen in The Library. The Doctor stared down at his hands as he wrung them. Since he regenerated, he felt like his previous self had been a bit wishy washy, especially the whole fear of wanting to die. What was that about? He'd died before and here he was, alive and kicking. Not to mention his aversion of companions towards the end. How boring can you get, traveling alone? But now, after what happened with Amy, perhaps his previous self had the right idea about being afraid to regenerate and travel with others. He wondered what would happened if in his next life, he regenerated into the Elephant Man. Would woman fancy him then and want to get in his trousers? When did he become such a desirable bloke?

He continued to stare out at the duck pond, grinning as he randomly realised he was looking at a pond and Amy's last name was Pond. As he stared, his thoughts shifted to the present problem in order to keep his mind off his companion and her horny escapade. He lost himself so deeply in thought that it took him a moment to realize that Amy's hands were on his shoulders. Putting on a passive facade, he turned his head and looked up at her.

"Giving up?" Amy asked.

"Not at all, just sitting and using the old brain box," he said, looking back at the ducks.

The Doctor tried to keep his attention on the ducks and ignore Amy's hands on his shoulders and the uneasy tension that was passing between them. Finally, he heard his companion let out a sigh and inwardly groaned when she sat down next to him.

"Doctor, talk to me," she said, searching his face.

"Beautiful day, isn't it Amelia," the Doctor rambled as he stared at the pond. "Look at the ducks in the duck pond. There are actually ducks in the duck pond this time, isn't that brilliant. I love ducks. I love the way they bob in the water and glide along and make splishy splashy noises when they land."

"That's not what I meant," Amy said.

The Doctor let out an annoyed sigh.

"I don't wanna talk about it, Pond," he said, finally looking at her.

"I do. I wanna know why you rejected me after you led me on."

"Led you on? When did I ever lead you on?"

"In the forest, when I had my eyes closed."

"Yeah, what about it?"

Amy gave him a withering look.

"What? I don't understand that look. What happened in the forest that led you to think I was leading you on. I don't recall trying to chat you up while the angels were standing there."

"When you came back after you left me and told me I had to trust you."

The Doctor frowned.

"Huh?"

Amy sighed.

"I thought you'd left but you came back, took my hands and said "Amy, I need you to start trusting me. It's important."

The Doctor looked at her as if she'd grown two heads.

"I said no such thing."

"Oh, come off it, Doctor."

"I said nothing of the sort, Amelia, I said later to you and patted you on the head and walked into the forest."

"No, you told me I had to start trusting you and you told me to remember what you told me when I was seven and then you rubbed up against my forehead and kissed it before you left."

"Amy, you must have been imagining things. I didn't do any of that. I left you and went with River and Octavian into the forest. I never said anything about remembering what I told you when you were seven. I'm sorry, but that never happened."

"It did happen!" Amy growled as she leapt up. "You just refuse to admit you kissed me because that would mean that you really do love me which is what I thought when I tried to get you to come to bed with me."

The Doctor sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Amy, I like you. I care for you as a friend, nothing more. I'm sorry if you imagined things that weren't there and possibly mistook my friendliness for flirting. I admit that I don't know all the ins and outs of human behavior and sometimes I do something that someone takes the wrong way. I want us to be friends and traveling companions. I wouldn't have offered to bring you with me otherwise but I have to draw the line at that."

He sighed again when a tear trickled down Amy's cheek.

"Amy, please, don't do this. Don't ruin our friendship by trying to turn it into something more," he said, standing up and putting his hands on her arms.

"I waited for you."

"I know you did, fourteen years."

"And four psychiatrists. They thought I was mad."

"And you bit them. Yes, you told me this before."

"No, I didn't tell you everything," Amy said, wiping away another tear.

"What didn't you tell me?"

"I...fantasized about you as I got older."

The Doctor groaned.

"I couldn't help it. You were...wonderful. You were this magical man who came to my house one night and although you made a mess of my kitchen, you were still sweet and funny and I felt safe around you. Safer than I've ever felt before. You told me five minutes and I went and packed a suitcase and sat out in the garden all night because I believed you. And I just couldn't stop thinking about you and over time..."

She trailed off and shook her head.

"Never mind. Forget it. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry I mistook your friendship for something more. I'm sorry I've been a bother. I won't say anything about it again."

"Amy, wait," the Doctor said gently.

But Amy pulled away from his hands and walked off, wiping the tears away that were streaming down her face.

"I'll keep looking for the crack," she called out over her shoulder, trying to keep her voice steady. "Let me know if you've found it before I do."

The Doctor watched her walk away from him and then with a sigh, he slumped down on the bench and put his head in his hands.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"Amelia…Pond," Jareth said while looking in the crystal ball in his hand and his right leg dangled over the arm of the throne. He thought about the storm and what he saw in the white light as he sighed and stood up. The goblins laughed and chatted amongst themselves when he walked by them and kicked a goblin with a round face, big brown eyes, white hair and a small nose. It yelped while it flew through the air then crashed into a barrel filled with wine and its legs kicked the air. The other goblins and hobgoblins giggled while Jareth left the throne room then walked down the hallway and headed for the stairs. Walking down the stairs, he walked toward the arch then walked inside a garden and the flowers automatically bloomed around him.

"Good morning," one of the flowers said as he walked onward and the flowers drooped, softly sobbing. Jareth walked down the path when he stopped at the center of the garden and looked up at the statute sitting on the podium. Sculpted from the finest marble, the state was of a young girl with a baby boy in her arms and he sighed, brushing the hair from his eyes.

"Sarah," he whispered as he placed his hand on the podium and felt the tears in his eyes. Even though it had been years since Sarah had come to his kingdom, he still felt the love he had for her in his heart. She had solved his labyrinth to save the life of her little step-brother and, in turn, took most of his heart with her when she left. "But she didn't do it alone."

No, he knew she had help from Hoggle and he had punished Hoggle for his involvement. He had spies sweeping the forest in hope of finding the fox and sheepdog and there were also hunters out looking for any sign of the creature they were traveling with.

"I shouldn't have let her win! I should have confronted her! I should have called foul that she cheated and turned Toby into a goblin!" he yelled when he looked up at the statue and sighed. "No, that isn't what I would have done. True, she wished him away but I wouldn't have turned him. He was the bravest little thing I have ever seen. He liked my singing and even giggled when I tossed him into the air."

Jareth thought about singing Magic Dance to calm Toby down and tossing him over his shoulder, only to be caught by one of the goblins. Toby giggled and clapped his hands when it was over and raised his arms to be picked up. Jareth had picked him up and Toby snuggled against him, looking up at him with such trust in his eyes.

"Oh, those loving, trusting eyes," he sighed then thought about sitting on the throne with Toby sitting on his lap, sleeping peacefully against his chest. He just watched Toby sleeping when his heart lightened and thoughts of Toby as his heir ran through his mind. He had pictured Toby playing at his feet while he held court. He thought about teaching Toby magic and how proud he would have been when Toby performed his first trick. He knew how proud he would have been when he turned the Goblin Kingdom over to Toby then fading away in the mists.

"But that is over now," he sighed when he waved his hand and a crystal ball appeared in his hand. He gently jiggled the crystal ball when a fog appeared then cleared and the face of a twenty-four year old man appeared. He was chatting with a woman when she picked up a baby boy and the baby looked like Toby. Jareth had watched Toby grow older as the years went by but never contacted him and his heart grew colder as the years went by. Throwing the crystal ball to the ground, Jareth looked up at the statute as he balled his hands into fists and growled. "Damn you, Sarah!"

The sounds of hounds barking made the sheep dog run faster and Sir Didymus the fox bounced in the saddle. They had spent years on the run since Sarah had left and Jareth had placed a price on their heads. The hounds grew closer while the sheep dog ran faster and Sir Didymus growled.

"Steady on, Ambrosius, we are nearly there!" he shouted as the puddles exploded under Ambrosius' feet and the hounds howled behind them. Ambrosius ran toward the rocks as the muck bubbled and spit mud into the air and both of them knew it was the only way. Crossing the Bog of Eternal Stench led to freedom as they headed for the rocks and Ambrosius hopped from one rock to the other. The bog burped and spit muck all around them as they headed for the opposite shore then stopped and looked at the hounds on the other shore. The hounds yelped and whimpered as the Dark Hunters ran to the hounds and Sir Didymus smiled at them.

"Get going, you mutts!" one of the Dark Hunters shouted but the hounds paced back and forth while Sir Didymus laughed.

"They will never cross this foul bog, Sire!" Sir Didymus said then pulled on the reins and Ambrosius ran off. The Dark Hunters growled as they pulled on the collars of the hounds and headed for the trees.

The leaves dribbled the water onto the ground as the water formed puddles and several small bugs skittered across the surface of the puddles. The small bugs yelped as the ground started shaking and the leaves swayed back and forth. The low sound of footsteps filled the air while large hairy feet moved along the path and the long hair moved back and forth. Soft cold mud squished between the large toes while the creature moved along and its yellow eyes slowly blinked. While it walked along a small bird with blue feathers landed on one of the curved horns on the creature's head and hopped closer to the side of the creature's head.

"Good morning, Ludo," the small bird chirped.

"Mor'ing," Ludo grumbled as it lumbered along and the small bird hopped onto Ludo's head, pecking at the bugs in its fur.

"Where are you going?"

"Hun'ry," Ludo grumbled as the small bird hopped through the fur then bent down and looked at Ludo.

"You're taking a big risk, you know. I heard from Bibby that the Dark Hunters are out in force today."

"Don' care," Ludo grumbled as it walked along and the small bird sighed. All of the forest creatures knew that Ludo had been hiding since Sarah left and had brought food to it whenever it was hungry.

"Are you sure you don't want to go home and wait for Narlbo?"

"No, hun'ry now," Ludo said as it kept walking and the small bird nodded its head.

"Ok, ok, just a suggestion," the small bird said as it settled down into the fur and Ludo sighed, walking down the path.

The goblins and hobgoblins snored around him whiel Jareth sat on the throne and tapped his riding crop against the toe of his boot. He had tried to focus on what he had seen in the light as he sighed and brushed the hair out of his eyes. Getting up, he walked to the window when he sat on the sill and a crystal ball appeared in his hand. He looked at the crystal ball when he raised his hand and the crystal ball floated into the air. Concentrating, he looked into the crystal ball as it swirled around in the air and he half smiled.

"Find she who haunts me," he whispered when a fog swirled inside the crystal ball and Sarah's face appeared. "No, not her, I need you to find Amelia Pond!" He watched as the crystal ball floated into the air then flew away and he sighed, placing his head against the stone.

Watching the ducks for a few more minutes, the Doctor sighed when he got up and walked down the path. He felt terrible for how he led Amy on and wanted to explain everything to her. He wanted to tell her about Susan and how he had to let her go in the end. He wanted to tell her about all of his companions and how, in one way or another, they left him. He wanted to talk about Jamie and Zoe, about Adric, about Peri, about Martha and Donna. Most of all, he wanted to tell her about Rose. How, like her, Rose meant a great deal to him.

"No, that isn't true. Rose was everything to me," he whispered as her face appeared in front of him and he sighed. "But she is better off with John. Did he call himself that? For all I know, he called himself Alan and is NOTHING like me! Yes, that is exactly what I hoped happened! That he has rejected everything that's me and became his own man! I wouldn't put it pass him to be some wild and crazy nutter that is driving Rose absolutely bonkers!" he said with a smile and ran down the path.

"He thinks I'm lying? I know full well that he was in that forest!" Amy said as she stormed down the path and people started at her. "And I wasn't flirting with him! I really did want him! Can't he see that I DO love him?"

"_But what about Rory?" _she thought. _"Don't you love him?"_

"Of course I do!"

"_Then why haven't you been wearing your engagement ring?"_

"I wear it!"

"_But only when you go outside. When you go home, you take it right off and place it in the box. I bet you'd like it if Rory wasn't around anymore."_

"That is not true!"

"_What if it came down to who you would save if you had to? Would you pick Rory over the Doctor?"_

Amy sighed when she stopped near a bench and sat down. She placed her head in her hands when someone sat down next to her and she moved back, looking at the Doctor sitting next to her. Before either of them could say a word, the crystal ball floated down and swirled around them.

"Don't move," the Doctor said when he took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed the sonic screwdriver at the crystal ball.

"It's just a bubble," she said.

"No, I don't think so."

"Then what is it?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said and the crystal ball bobbed up and down.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The Doctor and Amy sat motionless on the bench while the crystal ball hovered in front of her. She leaned her head back and her eyes bulged when the ball came in close to her and stopped as if it were studying her face.

"Doctor..." Amy said in a tense voice. "Make it go away."

The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at it and turned it on but nothing happened. Frustrated, he tried it again on a different setting and then he resorted to batting it away with his hand but the ball only came back to Amy after he knocked it away from her. The Doctor put his hand on Amy's shoulder.

"Keep very still," he muttered to her.

"Believe me, I'm not about to provoke this thing," Amy muttered back.

The Doctor leaned in to her.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. Who are you and what do you want?"

He waited a moment but the ball said nothing, only hung in space in front of Amy's face. He began to poke it with his index finger.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" he said as he poked it. "If you can't answer at least show some sign that you hear me and show us why you're here and staring at my companion."

The ball backed away out of reach of his finger but it continued to hover in front of Amy. The Doctor, completely frustrated, stood up and got in front of his companion. He glared at the ball as he folded his arms across his chest. The ball moved to his left, trying to see around him but the Doctor followed its movement.

"If you're not gonna tell us who and what you are, clear off before I catch you and sell you to some fortune teller," he said.

The ball moved around to his left and then in a sudden fake out zoomed around his right side and hovered in front of Amy as the Doctor sighed angrily.

"Right. I've had enough of this nonsense," he said, turning around.

He tried to grab the ball but it dodged and weaved and zoomed all around him. The Doctor let out a frustrated yell and ran after it. The ball darted here and there, toying with him while he tried to grab it and Amy noticed that several people were now stopping and staring at him as he ran around in circles trying to catch the ball. Then suddenly as if it had tired of the game, the ball flew up into the air and quickly vanished from view. The Doctor scanned the skies trying to find it and then shook his head when he finally gave up.

"I really hate flying, nosy crystal balls, did I ever tell you I hate flying, nosy crystal balls?" he said to Amy as he walked back over to her side and sat down.

"What d'ya think it wanted?"

"To be a flying, nosy crystal ball, that's what it wanted."

"I'm serious."

"So am I. I have no idea what it wanted since it wouldn't speak and it wouldn't stand still long enough for me to catch it so I have to assume it's just a flying, nosy crystal ball."

"Why was it focusing in on me though?"

The Doctor glanced at her and saw the worried look on her face. He gave her a reassuring smile as he took her hand and squeezed it.

"Whatever it was, whatever it wanted, I won't let it hurt you," he said."But now we seem to have two mysteries to figure out. The crack and the ball. Hmmm, the crack and the ball, might be a good title for a play. Maybe when I get the time I'll sit down and write out a play and call it The Crack and the Ball. Then take it to the East End and watch it be a bomb. Then perhaps, New York...Broadway...then a film, although I don't know how they'll be able to send my royalties to the TARDIS..."

"Um, Doctor?"

"Hmmm?"

"You're rambling," Amy said.

"Spot on, I do that frequently. Glad you finally cottened on to it. But anyway, daylight's a burnin', Pond. Let's get back to our search."

Jareth stood on a stone balcony just outside his throne room. His arms were folded over his chest and his foot tapped impatiently while he waited for his crystal ball to return. Behind him, Hoggle was sweeping the floor, trying to look busy but in reality he was spying on his master. He remembered Sarah fondly, the girl who had befriended him when no one else in the world would, and he was glad that she had managed to escape Jareth's clutches. That's why he was concerned that his master had a new infatuation. He knew it might potentially cost him his life but if this Amy was abducted and brought to the castle, he was determined to help her escape.

"I hope you're not slacking off back there, Hogwart."

Hoggle sighed. No matter how many times he told Jareth his name, the man couldn't pronounce it right. He'd given up wondering if he was really that thick when it came to remembering names or if he was doing it on purpose to piss him off.

"I'm doin' what ya told me to, Jareth," he said, pushing the broom hard so he could hear him sweeping.

"I want it done correctly, Hogwelt. You don't always clean the entire room and I don't appreciate you calling me by my name as if we were equals. I've warned you about that before so don't do it again. Is that clear?"

"Yes...master," Hoggle said, hating the word as it came out of his mouth.

"Very good. Once you are finished with the sweeping, you can mop and then I need you to go down into the garden and spray for fairies. They've begun to breed again and they're getting annoying. Hullo..."

Hoggle stopped sweeping for a moment, watching with trepidation as the crystal ball flew down out of the sky and hovered in front of Jareth's face. Jareth reached out and caressed the ball tenderly as if he were stroking a lover.

"Show me. Show me my heart's desire," he finally said.

The ball projected the image it had recorder of Amy into the air as if it were showing a film. Hoggle stood still and watched with Jareth as Amy sat and stared at the ball in shock. He saw her asking someone what the ball was and heard a man's voice in return. Hoggle glanced at Jareth and noticed he was mesmerized as he stared at Amy's face. He shook his head knowing no good would come of this. He neared closer to his master watching with amusement at the man's efforts to keep the ball away from his...companion. His eyes shifted back to Jareth when he heard him scoffing at him.

"She may be your companion now but not for long," Hoggle heard him mutter under his breath.

There was a pause and then Jareth glanced over at Hoggle who was standing a few feet away with the broom in his hand.

"I don't hear the sounds of sweeping, Hogbreath," he said to him.

Hoggle decided since he had been caught in the act of spying, he might as well have his two pence in.

"It ain't right, you takin' this girl," Hoggle said to him.

Jareth raised his eyebrows. Quick as lightning, he was on his slave and had his hand around his neck.

"Did I ask for your opinion?" he snarled in his face. "What I do isn't any concern of yours. I lost Sarah but I'm not about to lose Amy. I want her and she will be mine."

"What about her friend?" Hoggle gasped out.

Jareth snorted.

"Her friend is nothing. He can't stop me and if he tries, well...there's always my labyrinth to get through, isn't there? And as for you, you little toad. I'm going to make damn sure you can't help Amy escape. You're going to stay deep within the bowels of this castle at all times and be guarded night and day and if you even think of escaping...well, trust me, you don't want to find out what'll happen to you if you try."

He held Hoggle firmly by the neck while he amplified his voice and called for Snout, the head goblin in the castle. A moment later, a large, muscular goblin with a grey pig-like face came into the room. He was wearing leather shoes, trousers, chain mail, a rusted metal breast plate and a metal helmet on his head. He strode into the room and bowed low to Jareth.

"Yes, my Lord?" he said.

"I need you to take Hogtoes here down to the dungeon. I need it cleaned and swept out and I need you to keep an eye on him to make sure he does it."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Have fun, Hogtails," Jareth said.

"No, you can't do this! Let me go!" Hoggle said, struggling as Snout grabbed a hold of him.

There was a flash of light and Snout disappeared with his captive.

"There, that's sorted. Now...I'll try again to fly through that light and see if I can locate Amy..."

He had another thought and summoned Snout again. He reappeared without Hoggle and bowed.

"Be ready. I'm going to find someone in the Earth realm and see if I can bring her to the castle as my guest. I might need help, especially since she has a very protective friend with her. If I call, bring some of your men. We need to take her back quickly with us."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Be gone and keep an eye on Hoggle," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

Snout smirked at that and disappeared as Jareth walked over to the balcony. He held out his hand and the crystal landed in the palm. He made it vanish from sight and then took a deep breath as he let the metamorphsis begin. After a minute, he finished changing into his owl form again and flew up into the sky towards the glowing crack. He noticed with delight that the ball seemed to have made the crack larger. Determined, he beat his wings furiously and flew headlong into it. This time he met little resistance. There was a moment where he saw nothing but blinding, white light and then he was flying out of the other end, a large crack in the base of a statue of a sheepdog. He flew up into the air and began to circle around, searching for Amy. It took less than thirty seconds to find her, she was walking alone but the Doctor was nearby. For a moment, Jareth thought about shitting on his rival's head for his amusement but then decided not to waste the energy. Instead, he flew over to a wooden bench near Amy, settled down onto it and quietly observed her.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Amy sat on the bench while she waited for the Doctor when she had the feeling that she was being watched and slowly turned her head to the right. The white owl tilted its head slightly as it blinked and rocked from one foot to the other.

"Where did you come from?" she whispered as the owl moved closer and ruffled its feather.

"_She is a vision," _Jareth thought while moving closer and Amy slowly lifted her hand, reaching toward him. He didn't move while she gently stroked his feathers and he blinked. _"She has such lovely fingers."_

"Your name wouldn't be Hedwig, would it?" she asked with a smile and the owl blinked. She stroked her fingers down its back while a cool shiver moved through Jareth and he concentrated, stopping himself from changing back into his true form. Amy held her wrist out when the owl moved from the bench to her wrist and she raised her wrist up until they were face to face. The owl tipped its head as it blinked its eyes and Amy noticed that the eyes were two different colors. She slowly moved her hand closer when she gently stroked the feathers on the owl's chest and Jareth gasped internally, trying hard to keep his mind on what he was doing.

"Amy?" the Doctor asked as she looked to her left and the owl flew off her wrist, heading into the tree behind her. The Doctor walked closer when he sat on the bench and sighed, placing the sonic screwdriver on his lap. "There you are."

"You scared it," she said as she pointed to the owl and he looked up at it.

"That, Amelia Pond, is a barn owl. A Tyto alba, if you want to use the clinical term. One of the most widely distributed species of owl and is often called the common barn owl. That distinguishes it from other species of barn owl. It is found almost anywhere in the world, except for the polar regions, deserts, all of Asia north of the Alpide belt, most of Indonesia and the Pacific Islands. As you can see, it is a pale, long winged and long legged owl and can be twenty-five to forty-five centimeters or nine to eighteen inches tall. Its wingspan can be seventy-five to one hundred and ten centimeters or thirty to forty-three inches. The best way to distinguish them from the true owl is the tail shape when seen in flight because of the wavering motions and open dangling feathered legs. Its face is shaped that way to give it a startling appearance of a flat mask with large black eye slits and the ridge of feathers around the bill looks like a nose."

"You're rambling again."

"Yeah, I guess I am. So, what is a barn owl doing out here in the middle of the day?" he asked when he stood up, removed the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at the owl.

"_What is that thing?_" Jareth thought when the Doctor pushed the button and a high pitch sound fill the air, causing a loud, painfully ringing in Jareth's ears.

"Doctor, no, you're hurting it!" Amy shouted when the owl flew into the air and dived toward them. Amy and the Doctor ducked as the owl dived at them and screeched.

"Blimey, I didn't mean for that to happen!" the Doctor said as the owl flew at him and dug its claws into the coat, cutting slits into the sleeve. "Hey!"

The owl flew away as they stood up and Amy glared at the Doctor. She stormed off as the Doctor looked at the slits then saw the blood spreading across his shirt sleeve and removed the coat, placing it over his shoulder. He looked at the slits in his shirt then the bloody slashes on his arm when he sighed and use the sonic screwdriver to cut the sleeve off. He placed the coat between his legs as he tied the sleeve around the wound then tied the coat around his waist and went to go find Amy.

The ringing in his ears made flying hard as Jareth tried to head back to the crack but the ringing grew louder and louder until he changed back to his normal form and tumbled head over heels to the ground. He rolled onto the ground until he stopped inches from the crack then rested on his back and looked at the sky. Panting, he cupped his ears with his hands as the ringing pounded against his skull and he closed his eyes.

Amy had been following the owl until she saw it heading toward the statue of the sheep dog and swore that it had changed into what looked like a man. Slowly, she walked toward the man lying on the ground as she knelt down and looked at him.

"_Cor, he's amazing," _she thought. She carefully moved closer as she reached her hands out toward his wrists when his eyes snapped open and he sat up on his elbows.

"Easy, I'm not going to hurt you," she said but the ringing in his ears only allowed him to hear some of what she was saying and he tilted his head to one side. "Can you understand me?"

"Yes," he said with a nod of his head.

"That's good. I'm Amy. What is your name?"

"Are you asking me my name? My name is Jareth," Jareth said as she looked at him and blinked. His wild white/blonde hair had grass and leaves in it and she reached over and removed the leaf that was tangled in his hair. He gently took her hand as he looked deeply into her eyes and she found herself being drawn into them.

"_He's got two different colored eyes," _she thought with a small smile as Jareth smiled back and she felt a blush moving across her cheeks.

"What is your name?" he asked even though he knew her name.

"My name is Amelia Pond but most call me…."

"AMY!" the Doctor shouted when she turned around and saw him running toward them. He stopped next to her when he looked down at Jareth and frowned. "Who's this?"

"This is Jareth. He was the owl."

"What do you mean he was the owl?" the Doctor said when he took the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and pointed it at Jareth. Jareth crawled backward as his heart slammed in his chest and Amy followed him, glaring at the Doctor.

"Put that away! You're scaring him!" she shouted then wrapped her arms around Jareth and he looked at her.

"_She's protecting me?" _he thought and Amy placed his head against her shoulder.

"Well, he hurt me, or didn't you notice that I'm BLEEDING?" the Doctor said when she noticed the blood rolling down his arm then looked at Jareth.

"He was defending himself!"

"I was just trying to figure out what he was!"

"You could have asked!"

"Amy, he was a bloody owl at the time!"

"And that gave you the right to point that thing at him and blast him!"

"It is not a thing. It's a sonic screwdriver and I didn't blast him! I scanned him!"

"You hurt him!" she shouted while Jareth sighed and the ringing in his ears faded into a soft hum.

"Ok, fine, I'm sorry that I hurt him! Can we go back to the TARDIS so I can use the tissue regenerator? This really hurts!"

"What about Jareth? We can't just leave him here!"

"He's a big boy. He can look after himself."

"So can you!" Amy said as she let go of Jareth and stood up.

"We are leaving!" the Doctor said as he gently grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the path.

"No, we are going to help him!" she shouted as Jareth slowly stood up and dusted the dirt and grass off his trousers. Amy blinked when she noticed a bump sticking out of his trousers and Jareth looked down, smiling.

"_Cor, is that what I think it is?" _she thought while the Doctor looked at what she was looking at and his eyes became tight slits.

"Let's go, Pond," he growled as he took her hand when Jareth walked closer and folded his arms over his chest.

"I don't think she wants to go with you," Jareth said while tilting his head to one side and used two fingers to removed the hair from his face.

"Well, I think she does!" the Doctor said when Amy slapped his hand away and glared at him.

"And I think both of you should let me think for myself!" she said while Jareth walked closer and the Doctor glared at Amy.

"Fine, have it your way! I knew taking on companions again was a mistake! You want to stay here then stay here! In fact, I wish…." the Doctor said as Jareth's eyes went wide and his heart slammed in his chest.

In the Goblin Kingdom, Snout and several of the other goblins snapped their heads up when they heard someone talking and one of the goblins looked at Snout.

"Was that someone making a wish?" the goblin asked.

"Be quiet. I can't hear!" Snout said and the goblins grew quiet.

"What do you wish?" Jareth asked as he tenderly slid his arm around Amy's waist and smiled.

"I wish she'd just go away and never come back!" the Doctor said. Suddenly the ground started shaking while the crack at the base of the statue of the sheepdog opened up and Amy looked at the white light.

"Doctor!" she shouted when a cold wind appeared and blew their hair around their heads.

"Thank you," Jareth said as he held Amy closer and the white light moved over them.

"Give her back!" the Doctor shouted as he headed toward the light and Jareth laughed.

"What's said is said."

"But I didn't mean it!"

"Didn't you?"

"No, let her go!"

"No, she's mine!" Jareth said as he slid his arms around her waist and the Doctor's eyes went wide.

"But that's not fair!"

"What a pity," Jareth said as the white light surrounded them and the Doctor covered his eyes.

"Doctor!" Amy screamed as the light started fading and the Doctor growled, running toward the light. Taking a deep breath, he charged into the light as the crack started closing until it sealed itself shut and the leaves blew gently around the statue.

Deep within the dungeon, Hoggle heard the cheering as the goblins celebrated the return of Jareth and his new lady love and Hoggle sunk to the stone floor. Knowing full well that Amy was doomed to spend the rest of her life with Jareth, Hoggle closed his eyes while tears rolled down his face and his screams echoed through the air, causing the little furry spiders to run down the hallway in search of a place to hide.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

The Doctor let out a pained groan as he slowly sat up. He had fallen through the crack and had landed hard on his side on the hard, rocky ground. Holding his aching side, he sat and stared at his surroundings while he tried to get his bearings. Off to his left there was a huge thirty foot stone wall that seemed to go on forever in either direction. To his right was more rocky terrain and in the distance was a lush, green forest. Other than that, there didn't seem to be much else except for the sun shining overhead in the bright blue sky. For a moment, he wondered if he had landed in some other time period of Earth and then he felt something seized the back of his hair and jerk a handful of it nearly out of its roots. He yelped in pain and leapt to his feet, spinning around to see who had done it. He was amazed to see several tiny fairies, each one glowing with a soft white light as they flew nearby. He rubbed his side while he watched them, then suddenly one of them zoomed at his face and slapped it hard. He reeled back, batting at them as the others joined in.

"Gah!" he said as he ran towards the wall.

Behind him, he could heard the tiny high-pitched voices of the fairies as they laughed at him.

"Yeah, well just wait till I get ahold of you...you fireflies from Hell," he said as the fairies continued to laugh.

Ignoring their laughter and taunts, he turned and stared at the wall in front of him. It looked ancient and there were some spots where moss covered the stones. A few weeds were scattered along the base and he could see some places where the stone had chipped. He ran his hand over it and felt the coldness of it. He walked along with his hand on it for several feet as he tried to find an opening to it. While he was doing that, he wondered where Amy was and guilt pricked at his mind, thinking how he had been responsible for her capture. He sometimes did stick his foot in his mouth, especially when he was angry but he never meant what he said and now Amy might be in danger because of it. Wherever he landed he was determined to get back to her before this Jareth did something to her.

He paused fora moment, looking around him while he tried to figure out a way to get inside. He was looking behind him and turned his head back around and gasped when he saw the crystal ball hovering in front of him. Rage welled up within him as he stared at it.

"Where's Amy?" he demanded. "I know you can hear me so talk!"

"Amy belongs to me now," Jareth's voice echoed from the ball. "You wished her gone and I granted your wish."

"I never meant it!" he said.

"Oh? Sounded pretty convincing to me."

"Give her back to me! Now! Believe me, you don't want me as your enemy."

"I'll make a deal with you. Beside you is the Labyrinth. It is a maze that surrounds my castle. I will give you twelve hours to find your way through the Labyrinth and if you can do that and enter my castle and reach my throne room within that time, Amy is yours. If not, she stays here and becomes my queen forever."

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"I'm not in the mood for games, Jareth," he said.

"Oh, but I am. And since this is my world, you have to do what I want or else forfeit your charming companion."

"Okay, how do you get inside then? I don't see any entrances," the Doctor said.

His rage increased when he heard Jareth chuckling.

"That is one of the things you'll have to figure out, my friend. And let me say this...my Labyrinth isn't a walk in the park. There are many dangers inside. Only the bravest and most strongest of souls have ever gotten through it in one piece."

"Well, luckily I'm just the man for the job then."

There was another chuckle.

"We shall see, Doctor. We shall see if you have the strenght to make it through the Labyrinth alive. And even if you do succeed there is still my castle and my goblin minions will not make it easy for you, rest assured."

"Will you give me your word that Amy will not be harmed during the twelve hours you've given me?"

There was another chuckle.

"Harm? I have no wish to harm her, Doctor. I have fallen in love with Miss Pond."

The Doctor snorted softly at that but said nothing.

"But yes," Jareth continued. "I give you my word that she will not be harmed and if you do manage to make it to my throne room, I will give her to you without a fight."

The Doctor wasn't so sure of that but he decided not to argue with Jareth, especially since he was the one holding all the cards at the moment.

"Alright, I'll play your little game," he said angrily.

"Splendid. Then the twelve hours begins now. Good luck, Doctor."

The Doctor snorted as the ball rose up into the air and disappeared over the wall. He checked his wristwatch and made note of the time before he resumed his search for an entrance into the Labyrinth.

Amy sat down on the bed and looked around the room. After being taken by the goblins, she had been forced into a bedroom and the door had been shut and locked behind her. The bedroom was very feminine with pink walls, white carpeting and a pink duvet on the white wooden canopy bed. There was a white vanity by the door with a mirror in a golden frame and an oak bookcase beside it with a few books in it. Amy had already scanned the books but most of them seemed to be about goblins and goblin history which didn't interest her. There was nothing on the walls except for a few gold wall lamps the lit the room with a soft glow. The whole bedroom would have been pleasing to her under other circumstances but at the moment all Amy wanted to do was find a way to escape and get back to the Doctor. She got up from the bed and walked over to the vanity, opening the drawers in the hopes she could find a weapon or something to pick the door lock with. But the only things she found were a small golden hand mirror, a brush and comb, some cosmetics and a photograph of a young woman with long, black hair. She stared at the photo of the woman who looked like she was a teenager at the time it was taken.

"Who's this? Your daughter?" Amy muttered as she stared at it. "Or another potential lover of yours?"

That through made her queasy, considering the woman was a teenager. She put the photo back and shut the drawers. She walked over to the white wooden door and stared at it for a moment before she began banging on it.

"OI! LET ME OUT!" she screamed. "YOU BETTER LET ME OUT BECAUSE IF THE DOCTOR FINDS YOU, YOU'RE GONNA WISH YOU NEVER KIDNAPPED ME!"

She pounded furiously on the door, yelling to be let out but gave up after five minutes and went to sit back down on the bed. She sighed angrily as she stared at the door, waiting for something to happen.

Meanwhile, the Doctor was still searching for an opening into the Labyrinth. He noticed that every so often there was large vertical cracks that ran the length of the wall. Whenever he saw one, he stopped and scanned it with his screwdriver but so far all of them were just cracks in the wall, nothing more. He kept on walking, looking around him just in case Jareth or one of his goblins was trying to ambush him. He was looking behind him when he suddenly heard a tiny high pitched voice.

"'Allo."

The Doctor froze and reached into his pocket, gripping the handle of his screwdriver as he slowly took it out. He looked around him but couldn't see anybody. Confused, he looked up at the sky expecting to see the ball hovering there and then down at the ground when he didn't see anything. He saw a large hole in the wall near his feet and there was a little yellow worm sitting there, sunning itself. He frowned when he noticed the worm had a tuft of blue hair on top of its head and was wearing a little red scarf. He stared at it for a moment and then looked around again.

"I said 'allo."

The Doctor jerked his head back around and stared at the worm.

"'Allo," the worm said in a high-pitched English accent.

The Doctor knelt down as the worm came to the edge of the hole.

"Hi," he said hesitantly.

"Nice day for a walk," the worm said cheerfully.

"Uh...yeah, it is. Um, listen, you live around here?"

"This here's me home," the worm said. "I live right here in this hole."

"Ah. Well, I'm looking for the entrance to this Labyrinth. Do you know where it is?"

"Oh, there's plenty of entrances."

"There are?" the Doctor said. "I don't see any."

The worm let out a warm chuckle.

"Well, that's because you haven't been looking properly. Come inside though and meet the misses. I can brew you a nice cup of tea."

"No thanks," the Doctor said hurriedly. "What do you mean there are plenty of entrances? I've been walking for about a half hour and I haven't seen any."

"That's because you haven't really looked."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, there are entrances everywhere, you just gotta know how to look for them. But come inside and rest a spell, have a cup of tea."

"No thanks," the Doctor said impatiently. "Look, if you know where one of these entrances are, then tell me."

"Sure. There's one right on the other side of this hole."

The Doctor stood up and walked by the worm. The worm crawled over to the other side of the hole watching the Doctor while he stared at the solid wall in confusion.

"There's nothing here. Do I need a password of some sort?" he said, walking over and kneeling down.

The worm chuckled again.

"No, you just need to walk up and you're inside."

"Walk where? It's a solid wall, covered with moss and cracks. No entrance."

"Well, see that's the thing about this place. Things are not always what they seem. Just walk up to the wall and keep walking, you'll see what I mean."

The Doctor stood back up. He was perplexed since all he saw was a solid wall but he knew he had no choice at the moment and he had to trust the little worm. The worm watched as he scanned the wall with his screwdriver and then holding his arms out, he slowly walked towards the wall. To his amazement, what he thought was one long wall was actually an optical illusion and he had been staring at the back of the next wall while the crack and the moss concealed the corner of the entrance. He stood there and looked left and right and saw another part of the maze, just more wall in either direction but at least he had found out how to get inside. He walked back out and knelt down to the worm.

"Thanks, mate."

"No worries. Come inside and see my children."

"Ah no, love to but I'm on a tight schedule right now. But thanks for all your help and have a wonderful day."

The worm edged closer to the edge of the hole and watched as he went back in and turned right.

"Wait!" he yelled.

The Doctor stopped short and came back out.

"What is it?" he said, walking over to the hole.

"Don't go that way!" the worm said panicked.

"Why not?"

"It's dangerous! Go the other way. Trust me, you don't wanna see what's that way."

"Um...okay, I'll go the other way then."

"Thank you. I know I'm just a little worm but I like you and I'm just looking out for your well-being."

"Thanks, I appreciate that. Have a good day then," the Doctor said with a wave.

The worm watched as he walked back through the entrance and turned left. Once he was gone he breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was close. Poor bugger. If he'd gone that way, he'd gone straight to that castle."  



	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

The Doctor walked along the path while he looked around and scanned the walls with the sonic screwdriver. Stopping at what he thought was a dead end at the end of the passageway, he slid his hand along the wall when he realized that it was a corner and walked around the corner. He thought he heard giggling when he spun around but nothing was behind him and he sighed, turning back the other way.

"Right, now which way do I go?" he asked while crossing his arms over his chest and sighed.

"You could go this way," a gargoyle sitting on a small ledge said as the Doctor walked closer and looked up at it. It was about two feet tall with gray skin and the gray leather wings were folded against its back. It had a small head with yellow eyes, pointy ears and a turned up nose and the body was thin with a hint of muscles. The gargoyle was wearing leather trunks and the tail dangled off the small ledge.

"I can?" the Doctor asked, looking down the pathway to his right.

"Or you can go that way," the gargoyle said and the Doctor looked behind him.

"But I just came from that direction."

"Or you can go that way!" the gargoyle said, pointing straight up and the Doctor sighed.

"Only if I had wings," the Doctor said when he walked down the pathway while he scanned the area then stopped at an opening in the wall and looked at the small courtyard. He walked into the courtyard while looking at the moss covered walls and slightly bent trees growing out of the holes in the stone and blinked. The courtyard looked like a dead end as he started to walk away when he heard someone coughing and turned around. "What? That was a bare wall just a second ago."

Against the walls were two wooden doors. The door on the left had a doorknocker with a round, face with gray skin, pointy ears, a small nose and yellow eyes and the door on the right had a doorknocker with a long, face with gray skin, pointy ears, a long, pointy nose and orange eyes. The ring to the doorknocker on the left was stuck in the ears of the doorknocker and the ring to the doorknocker on the right was sitting in the doorknocker's mouth and the Doctor stared at them.

"It's rude to stare, you know," the left doorknocker said.

"Oh, sorry, I was just wondering where you two came from," the Doctor said and the left doorknocker frowned.

"Eh, did you say something?"

"It's no good talking t'him, Mate. Deaf as a post, he is," the right doorknocker said with a muffle to its voice and the left doorknocker pouted.

"Eh?"

"I said you're bloody deaf!" the right doorknocker shouted, nearly dropping the ring out of its mouth.

"Here, let me hold that for you," the Doctor said as he took the ring out of the right doorknocker's mouth and it flexed its jaw then smiled.

"Ah, that is so much better."

"What are you two saying? Mumblers, the pair o' you!" the left doorknocker said as the Doctor half smiled and the right doorknocker rolled its eyes.

"Well, if you'd take that ring out o' your ears, you'd hear me!"

"Nope, still can't hear you!"

"Look, do either of you know what's behind these doors?" the Doctor asked, pointing to the doors.

"Nope, we're just the knockers," the right doorknocker said then smiled.

"What is he saying?" the left doorknocker asked.

"HE WANTS T'KNOW WHAT'S BEHIND THE DOORS!"

"Oh, all he has t'do is knock on the door and it will open."

"Ah, I should have done that at the beginning," the Doctor said when he went to place the ring back into the mouth of the right doorknocker and it pressed its lips together. "Oh, come on."

"Nope, I don't want that back in my mouth!" the right doorknocker said then pressed its lips together.

"But I need to get to the castle."

"MM-MM!" the right doorknocker said, pressing its lips together.

"What's going on?" the left doorknocker asked, getting annoyed.

"HE WON'T LET ME PUT THE RING BACK INTO HIS MOUTH!" the Doctor shouted and the left doorknocker hummed.

"Doesn't want the ring back? I can't say if I blame him. It must taste terrible," the left doorknocker said when the Doctor smiled and pinched the right doorknocker's nose closed. The right doorknocker started shaking until it opened its mouth and the Doctor shoved the ring back into its mouth. He knocked as the door opened to another section of the labyrinth and he patted the right doorknocker on the head, closing the door.

"See what happens when you're rude? You end up with that thing in your mouth," the left doorknocker said and the right doorknocker sighed.

"That's ok. I'm used to it," the right doorknocker said in a muffled voice.

"Eh?"

"Never mind," the right doorknocker said, rolling its eyes.

Hoggle sat in the cell as he listened to the goblins partying in the streets of the Goblin City from the window above him and he sighed, kicking a rock into the corner of the cell. Suddenly he heard the sound of yipping and barking as he looked at the door to the cell and it slammed open. Two large goblins came into the cell when they dropped something onto the floor, turned and left the cell, slamming the door behind them. Hoggle blinked as Sir Didymus and Ambrosius slowly stood up and Sir Didymus headed for the door. The Dark Hunter had finally captured them and brought them to the castle but Jareth was too busy to deal with them. He told the goblins to put them into the dungeon and Sir Didymus drew its sword from the scabbard while Ambrosius was lying on the cold stone, whimpering.

"Open this door at once!" Sir Didymus said as it wrapped the sword against the door and growled. "Did you hear me? Open the door!"

"I'd save your screams for Jareth," Hoggle said as Sir Didymus turned and its eye went wide.

"Friend Hoggle, you are here as well?"

"Yeah, he put me down here so I couldn't stop him from going after her," Hoggle sighed and Sir Didymus walked closer.

"He is going after Sarah?" Sir Didymus asked and Hoggle shook his head.

"Nope, there's this girl, Amy something, and he's going to make her his queen."

"Then we must warn her!" Sir Didymus said as it climbed onto Ambrosius' back and Hoggle sighed.

"It's too late. He's already got her. That's why they're cheering," Hoggle said as he pointed to the window and they looked up at it.

"Oh dear, the poor girl is doomed," Sir Didymus said softly and its ears folded against its head.

Amy sat on the bed while she looked at the door when she got up and walked to the door. She pulled on the door handle but the door stayed shut and she sighed.

"Such a pity," a voice said when she spun around and saw Jareth standing near the white vanity and she blinked. He was wearing a white tunic that was opened at the front, tight white trousers with a white leather belt, white boots and white gloves and a cape of white owl feathers was draped over his shoulders. His hair was floating around his head as he smiled at her and slowly walked toward her.

"Stay away from me!" she said as she backed away from the door and ran for the wooden bookcase and took one of the books off the shelf.

"Do you wish to read to me?" Jareth asked when he stopped in front of her and took the book out of her hand, looking at the title. "The Goblin Child's Book of Verses? My mother used to read this to me when I was a child."

"Let me go!" she shouted as he smiled and cupped her chin in his hand.

"Such fire," he whispered when she looked into his eyes and shivered.

"Look, the Doctor is coming and he'll kick your ass if you do anything to me!"

"Oh, I don't think he'll be doing that," he said as Amy pulled away from him and backed up toward the door.

"What have you done to him?" she demanded and Jareth smiled, folding his arms over his chest and leaned against the bookcase.

"I haven't done anything to him. Now, those that live in my labyrinth, that is a different story altogether."

"No, don't hurt him!"

"You don't want me to hurt him?" he said as he walked toward her then stood in front of her and smiled. "What will you do to ensure his safety?"

"Whatever you want," she said softly as he blinked then grinned.

"I will hold you to that," Jareth said when he swept the cape across the floor and she watched as the owl flew into the air and soared out of the window. Amy walked to the window when she closed it then walked to the bed, crawled onto it and curled into a ball. The tears rolled down her cheeks as she crossed her arms over her chest and sobbed.

The Doctor was growing angry as he tried to figure out which way to go that he decided to scorch an arrow in the stone on the ground. The problem was he passed a different arrow as he walked from one passageway to the other then sighed and went the other way.

"This is getting ridiculous!" he said when he used the sonic screwdriver to scorch an arrow in the stone and walked down the passageway. When he walked away, the stone was lifted by two tiny goblins then turned around and one of the tiny goblins waved its fist in the air.

"Your mother's a fraggin' aardvark!" the tiny goblin shouted then jumped into the hole under the stone and the stone fell to the ground. The Doctor walked back to the stone when he sighed and scratched his head with the bottom of the sonic screwdriver.

"Oh, come on!" he shouted when he looked down and saw that the arrow he just made was pointing in the other direction and growled. "Someone is changing my marks!"

"Yes, they are," a voice said when he spun around and saw Jareth standing near a large rock. He was wearing a white tunic that was open at the top, a leather waistcoat and gloves, tight gray pants with a black belt and black leather boots that ended just below his knees.

"How am I supposed to get to the castle if this keeps happening?"

"It's simple," Jareth said as he walked closer and went face to face with him. "You can't!"

"Do you know who I am?" the Doctor asked as his eyes turned black and Jareth blinked.

"You are the Doctor, I believe," he said with a smug tone and a small smile came to his face.

"Yep, I am the Doctor."

"And that it supposed to impress me?"

"Doesn't it?" the Doctor asked and frowned.

"Not…one…bit!" Jareth said as a bit of spittle hit the Doctor's nose and the Doctor wiped it off.

"Now that is just plain gross. So, you say this is all yours, eh? That makes you the king or something?"

"I am the Goblin King."

"And I am the Walrus," the Doctor said with a grin then coughed, looking down. "Ok, you didn't get that. I am a Time Lord."

"I have never met a lord of time before."

"Well, now that you have, I want Amy back!"

"I told you that she's mine!" Jareth said as he walked away then turned and looked at the Doctor. "By the way, you better hurry. Time, heh, is almost up!"

The Doctor watched as Jareth vanished when he growled then stormed down the pathway, swore, then went the other way. He didn't notice the owl sitting on the branch of the dead tree when it flew into the air and Jareth's laughter echoed around the labyrinth.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

The Doctor walked down a narrow stone corridor looking all around him, half expecting the scenery around him to change at any moment. He'd been trying to figure out what allowed the maze to change at will. So far the only thing he could come up with was magic and he wasn't about to accept that.

"There's more here than meets the eye," he murmured to himself as he walked. "That Jareth bloke, I refuse to believe he's some sort of goblin king ruling over a magical kingdom tucked inside a magic maze. Gotta be something else to this. I just hope I can find Amy in time before he does something to her."

He turned a corner and stopped short when he saw another wooden door with another gothic knocker. He sighed and walked up to it.

"Hello, I need to get through," he said to it.

He waited but the knocker said nothing.

"Hello," he said, clicking his fingers at it, "are you awake? I need to get through the door."

He paused a moment and examined the knocker. He flicked his fingers against it before deciding that it was just an inanimate iron knocker. He knocked on the door with the iron ring in its mouth and stepped back as the door slowly creaked open. He hesitated a moment then slowly inched forward, his senses on high alert. He peeked in and saw only a windowless stone room with a wooden door at the other end of it. Cursing under his breath, he turned to go back and gasped when he saw a stone wall directly behind him.

"Let me guess. I'm s'posed to go inside here," he said dryly. "Blast, I hate being herded into things. I make my own decisions; I don't need them made for me."

He said this to the wall but the wall said nothing in return nor did it move so the Doctor reluctantly turned and entered the room. He wasn't a bit surprised when the door immediately slammed shut behind him throwing the room into total darkness.

"If a monster jumps out at me now, I will be extremely miffed," he said aloud as he stood waiting for something to happen.

He pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and used it to light the room. He pointed it at the door across the room, cursing inwardly that it was made of wood. Then he heard soft crying on the other side of it.

"Hello?" the Doctor said aloud as he inched his way towards the door. "Is someone there? I'm the Doctor and I can help you."

The sobbing stopped and then he heard a muffled female voice calling his name. The Doctor warily approached the door. On a hunch he tried it and found it was unlocked. His senses in a heightened state he slowly opened the door.

"Hello?" he said as he came inside the room.

It was another windowless stone room and as soon as he stepped inside the door slammed shut.

"Bollocks!" the Doctor said with a sigh as he turned on his sonic screwdriver again.

He scanned the area in front of him and saw some dirty straw on the floor along with a rusted pot that had water in it. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of urine and mold that hung in the air all around him. Then he heard the soft sound of chains clinking off to his right and he swung the screwdriver in the direction of the sound…and froze when he saw someone huddled in the corner.

"No…" he said when he recognized her. "It can't be you."

"Who are you?" Rose Tyler said as she slowly stood up.

She was dirty and dishelved with chains around her ankles. She was wearing ripped jeans and a dirty pink hoodie. The Doctor stared at her, not daring to believe it was her. Even dirty with matted hair he had to admit she looked as beautiful as ever and those old familiar feelings of longing that he thought he had pushed down into the inner core of his being came to the surface.

"Who are you?" Rose said in a scratchy voice. "Where's the Doctor?"

"It's me, Rose. I'm the Doctor."

Rose stared at him silently.

"You…you regenerated again?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"I…got doused with radiation saving Wilf," he said.

Rose came closer to him and he bent down and released the chains from around her ankles with the screwdriver. Rose took his wrist and moved the screwdriver so it was pointing upwards towards his face so she could examine him.

"You're younger," she said after a moment's scrutiny.

"Yeah, I s'pose so. Physically I am. I'm actually older than I was when I last saw you. What are you doing here? You're s'posed to be in the other universe with…him."

"You mean your clone?" Rose said.

"Yeah, him. So what happened? Why aren't you in the other universe?"

"I was pulled through some sort of crack in the wall while I was out walking. This odd man threw me in here, said I was going to be part of his harem."

The Doctor let out an angry sigh.

"Jareth, if you don't stop kidnapping people…Listen, Rose, we have to get out of here. I have to find my other companion before he does something to both of you."

"Other…companion?"

"Yeah, Amelia...she calls herself Amy although I still like Amelia better than Amy and…"

"You're traveling with another girl?" Rose said.

The Doctor saw the hurt expression on her face and sighed.

"Rose, we really don't have time for this," he said.

"Is that why you left me in the other universe? So you could date someone else?"

"No. I only recently met Amy; it has nothing to do with what happened on the Crucible or Bad Wolf Bay. I told you I could never give you the sort of life you were wanting, my clone could so I left him with you."

"And what about this Amy?"

"Amy is…a friend."

"Really? You don't sound too sure about that," Rose said.

The Doctor let out another angry sigh.

"Rose, I have no time for this. I'm trying to solve this blasted maze in ten hours or less or Amy will become this bloke Jareth's queen. I will take you with me but I want the jealousy stopped here and now."

"So you don't feel anything for me now?" Rose challenged.

The Doctor let out another sigh as he tried to keep his temper under control.

"Rose, you will always have a special place in my hearts but you belong in the other universe with my other self. I can't be your boyfriend, I just can't, okay? I'm sorry if that upsets you but I don't know how to put it more delicately than that. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but it can't work out between us."

He gasped when Rose seized his wrist and her sorrowful look instantly turned to one of malice.

"On the contrary, we will make it work!" he snarled at him.

"Rose, stop it!" the Doctor said as he tried to jerk his wrist away from her hand. "I have no time for this."

"On the contrary, my love, we have all the time in the world!" Rose said.

The Doctor froze and stared at her as he suddenly got a funny feeling in his gut.

"No, wait; you can't be the real Rose. The real Rose wouldn't be this selfish. This is another of Jareth's tricks."

He tried to jerk his wrist away but "Rose" held it in a death grip.

"We're all alone now, Doctor. You and me can pick up where we left off," she purred as she inched closer to him.

The Doctor let out an angry growl as he tried to shove her away. He gasped when Rose shoved back, knocking the screwdriver out of his hand when his back hit the wall. The two of them were plunged into darkness and the Doctor found himself in a repeat of what happened with Amy as he felt Rose trying to take his clothes off.

"Forget that slut, Amy, it's me you want," Rose said breathlessly as she undressed him. "I'm here now, Doctor. You can do whatever you want to me. I will give myself to you willingly if you just forget Amy."

"No!" the Doctor said as he finally managed to shove her away from him. "You're not the real Rose. The real Rose wouldn't act like this. You're some sick illusion that Jareth's conjured up and I'm not falling for it!"

He scrambled around in the dark, looking for his screwdriver while at the same time trying to fend off "Rose" who was trying her best to pin him back up against the wall and get him undressed.

"I love you, Doctor," she said in a mocking voice. "I always have. Come with me and forget Amy Pond."

"Right, now I know you're not the real Rose since I never told you Amy's last name," the Doctor said, his hands feeling the floor for his screwdriver.

He felt "Rose" grabbing his arm and let out another angry sigh as he balled up his fist and punched her in the face. "Rose" let out a grunt and staggered back at the same moment the Doctor finally found his screwdriver. He turned it on and pointed it towards "Rose." His eyes bulged when he saw a goblin standing in her place. The goblin was half his size with an orange pockmarked face, bulbous nose, beady eyes and crooked teeth. He was dressed from head to toe in black armor.

"Love me, Doctor," the goblin said, imitating Rose's voice. "Forget Amy Pond, she belongs to Jareth now. Love me instead!"

The Doctor let out an angry yell and rushed the goblin. He darted out of the way at the last moment and the Doctor stopped inches from the back wall. He blinked when sunlight suddenly flooded the room and he turned to see he was back outside in the corridor. He turned around and saw the back wall had disappeared.

"Right. That's torn it. Mess with me but don't mess with my memories. When I see you, Jareth, I'm going to ring your scrawy neck!" he growled as he stomped off down the path.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"NO!" Jareth shouted as he watched the Doctor walking down the path and tossed the crystal ball against the wall. It shattered into tiny shards as he walked to the window and looked out at the labyrinth spreading out before him. Growling, he turned then stormed out of the room and the door slammed shut behind him.

The Doctor walked along the pathway as he growled and held the sonic screwdriver tightly in his hand. It was bad enough that Jareth had taken Amy but to use Rose against him was pure wrong. It was true that there was a part of him that was jealous that his clone was able to spend the rest of her life with her instead of him but there was no way he could change it now that their universes were sealed off from each other. Sighing, he walked down the pathway when he heard a soft squeaking noise and stood against the wall. He looked around the corner when he saw something moving closer and three shadows moved along the wall.

"Are you sure he went this way?" a familiar young voice asked and the Doctor blinked.

"No, it can't be," the Doctor whispered, frowning.

"Affirmative," a metallic voice said and the Doctor's hearts slammed in his chest.

"Just stay close," a woman's voice said as the shadows came closer and the Doctor closed his eyes.

"They're not real. They're not real. They're not real," he whispered then opened his eyes and looked at the wall. The shadows were gone as he sighed and looked up at the sky. "Nice try, but I don't fall for the same trick twice!"

Heading down the pathway, he placed his hands in his pockets and his anger bubbled inside him. Walking onward, the Doctor came to a door as he growled and looked up at the sky again.

"This is getting really old!" he shouted then walked to the door and took hold of the door handle. The door opened as he looked into the darkness and sighed. "There is no way I am going in there."

Closing the door, the Doctor turned around when he saw a stone wall behind him and he growled. Turning toward the door, he opened the door and looked into the darkness.

"Right," he said when he took a step and immediately fell into the darkness. "Help!"

Suddenly a multitude of hands came out of the darkness as he felt them grab hold of him and he frowned.

"Um, what are you doing?" he asked and, to his right, two hand formed circles for eyes, one hand made a fist for a nose and two hands touched fingertips to form a mouth. "Oh, now that's clever."

"Thank you," the "mouth" said then the fingers formed a smile.

"Right, who are you lot?" the Doctor asked, looking at the hands.

"We are the Helping Hands," the "mouth" said and the Doctor smirked, nodding.

"I see," he said then looked up at the doorway several feet above him.

"Where do you wish to go? Do you want to go down?" the "mouth" asked and the hands started to loosen, causing him to slip further into the darkness.

"No no no!" he said when the hands grabbed him again and a new "face" made of the hands appeared to his left.

"Well, come on, we don't have all day," the new "mouth" said and the Doctor frowned.

"No need to be rude."

"Yes, we shouldn't be rude," the "mouth to his right said and the hand "eyes" blinked. "It is a big decision for him."

"If I go up then I'll be stuck at a dead end. Which isn't a good thing since Amy is in trouble and I need to solve the maze before Jareth makes her his queen."

"And what is wrong with that?" the "mouth" above him asked.

"It's wrong because…" the Doctor said then sighed and rolled his eyes. "It's just wrong, is all."

"Then you want to go down?" the "mouth" below him asked.

"Well, seeing that I'm pointed in that direction. I guess I'll go down," the Doctor said with a grin.

"He said down!" the "mouth" above him said and the sound of giggling filled the air.

"Why do I have the feeling I just made a big mistake?" the Doctor asked, frowning.

"Too late!" the "mouth" to his left said and the hands let go of him.

"Geronimo!" he shouted as he fell into the darkness and the hands quickly pushed him faster and faster into the darkness. "Oi, there's no need to shove! "

"Just being helpful!" a voice said in the darkness and he laughed, rolling his eyes. A few minutes later, the Doctor landed with a soft thud as he stood up and dusted the dirt off his trousers. Sighing, he removed the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket when he scanned the tunnel and looked at the tiny screen. Suddenly a white owl flew down the tunnel when it grabbed the sonic screwdriver out of his hand and flew away. "Hey, give that back!"

"Such a pity!" echoed down the tunnel as he sighed and placed his hands in his pockets. He started walking while he looked at the stone statues and walked closer, looking at the first statue. It had large eyes, a long nose and a slit mouth carved into the marble and he smirked, scratching the back of his neck.

"Don't go on!" the first statue said and the Doctor hummed, stepping back from it.

"Why?" he asked and the statue blinked.

"Why?"

"Yes, why shouldn't I go on?"

"Go back, while you still can!" the second statute said and the Doctor walked to it, leaning on it. It had small eyes, a small nose and big lips and he pinched the small nose. "Ow, that was rude."

"Sorry, but why do you want me to go back?"

"This is not the way!" the third statue said and the Doctor walked to it, looking up at it. It had large eyes, a small nose, a slit for a mouth and large ears and the Doctor placed his hands behind his back.

"Are you sure this isn't the right way?" he asked and the third statue looked down at him.

"Take heed, and go no further," the fourth statue said and the Doctor walked to it. It was missing the right side of its face and half of a long nose and he patted the stone.

"How did that happen?" he asked and the statute looked at him.

"Jareth got mad at me," the fourth statue sighed and the Doctor nodded.

"Beware!" the fifth statue said and the Doctor walked to it. It had wide eyes, a long nose and a mouth in the shape of circle and he smiled.

"What do you want me to beware of?" he asked and the statue looked at him.

"Um, I don't know. No one's every asked me before," the fifth statue said and the Doctor softly laughed.

"Soon it will be too late!" the sixth statue said and the Doctor walked toward it. It had bat ears on top of it, small eyes, a long nose and a slit for a mouth and JARETH IS A FRAGGIN' AARDVARK had been painted on the left side of it.

"It will be too late for what?" he asked and the statue looked at him.

"Um…" the sixth statue said when the Doctor laughed and spun in a circle.

"I get it now! You are false alarms! You are here to make me turn around and go back because I'm traveling in the right direction!"

"No, you're not!" the seventh statue said as he walked closer and looked at it. It had small eyes, a small nose and a large slit for a mouth and two stone eyebrows were arched over the eyes.

"Yes, I am!" the Doctor said and the stone eyebrows arched down.

"No, you're not!"

"Am so," the Doctor said and one of the stone eyebrows arched up.

"Are not!" the seventh statue shouted then pouted.

"Oh, shut up," the Doctor said then walked away and the seventh statue sighed.

"I was just doing my job," the seventh statue said and the Doctor turned around and looked at it.

"And you did a great job," he said then went around the corner.

"BEWARE, FOR…" a booming voice said as he walked to the eighth statue and leaned on it. The statue was the largest of the statues and had large eyes, a long nose, big ears and a large mouth. "Uh, what are you doing?"

"Just waiting for you to finish what you were saying," the Doctor said and the statue smiled.

"Oh good, it's been a long time since I was able to say it," the eight statue said with a grin then did a little cough, looking at him. "FOR THE PATH YOU WILL TAKE WILL LEAD YOU TO CERTAIN DESTRUCTION!"

"Bravo!" the Doctor said, clapping and the statue smiled.

"Thank you," the eighth statue said as the Doctor nodded and headed down the tunnel. He smiled when he saw the exit then walked outside and saw that he was at the edge of a dark forest. Shrugging, he walked toward the dirt path as he placed his hands in his pockets and headed into the forest.

The white owl flew into the bedroom when it headed for the bed and dropped the sonic screwdriver onto the duvet. Jareth changed back into his normal form when he walked up the stairs to the bed and picked the sonic screwdriver off the duvet. He held the sonic screwdriver in his gloved hand as he looked at it and frowned.

"What are you?" he said when he moved the top part of the sonic screwdriver up and the four small prongs appeared. He looked at the buttons when he pointed the sonic screwdriver at the fireplace and pushed the button. He dropped the sonic screwdriver on the floor after the logs in the fireplace lit in a bright blue flame and he smiled, picking the sonic screwdriver off the floor. He closed the top half of the sonic screwdriver then placed it in the pocket of his waistcoat and patted the pocket. "Well, Doctor, let's see you get through my labyrinth without your amazing wand."

Smiling, Jareth walked to the door when he snapped his fingers and the door opened. His laughter echoed back into the room while the fire slowly died in the fireplace and the door closed behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Amy let out a frustrated sigh as she stood on the balcony just outside her room. Below her was the courtyard and past a high stone wall stretched the labyrinth. Even from above, the maze looked utterly confusing and she wondered how in the world the Doctor would get through it without getting hopelessly lost. Still she had faith in the Doctor.

"You said you'd always come for me, Doctor, and I know you'll find a way here," she whispered to herself as she turned and went back into the bedroom.

"Fascinating," Jareth said as he held the screwdriver in his hand.

He had been testing it on various objects and discovered that it unlocked and locked doors and started fires. He also tried it on his nervous minion snout to see if it would kill him and found out that it couldn't. He turned it over and over in his fingers as Snout stood nearby.

"Such a wonderful wand. This Doctor is more powerful than I thought," he said to Snout.

"But not as powerful as you, my lord," Snout said.

"True. But I cannot underestimate this…Time Lord and his abilities. I took away his wand but that doesn't mean he doesn't possess the skill to make it through the Labyrinth. Sarah did it and she was a mere child."

"She had help though, my lord," Snout pointed out.

"Yes, she did and we must make sure that the Doctor won't have the same help. Hoggle and Sir Didymus are imprisoned here but there are others. Others who would give anything to see my kingdom destroyed."

"Fools," Snout said, shaking his head. "You are the greatest ruler in the entire universe, my lord. A benevolent ruler who cares about the welfare of his subjects and…"

"Snout?"

"Yes, my lord?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a fawning sycophant?" Jareth said.

Snout gave him a confused look and slowly shook his head.

"No, my lord," he said, still not understanding what a fawning sycophant was.

"Well, they should because you are. But…you are loyal and I value that."

"Thank you, my lord," Snout said, bowing his head.

Jareth paced around the room while Snout watched.

"We need to do something now to convince Amy that she belongs with me and not with him," Jareth said after several minutes of silence. "I can't wait until he finds a way here. She must be led to believe that her only future is with me."

"How, my lord? She loves the Doctor," Snout said.

"Yes, but…thanks to my crystal, I've been scanning the fool's memories while he interacted with it and that's how I found out about all these companions he's traveled with and Rose Tyler. Grunt's impersonation of Rose didn't work on the Doctor but perhaps…perhaps it'll work on Amy. GRUNT! COME TO ME!" he screamed.

There was a flash of light and Grunt appeared next to Snout. He bowed deeply.

"What is your bidding, my lord?" he said as he bowed.

"I have another task for you. I need you to impersonate Rose Tyler again but this time I want you to convince Amy that she has no future with the Doctor."

"You want me to beat her up until she loves you?" Grunt asked eagerly.

"No, you imbecile, I want you to speak with her and make her believe that the Doctor is still in love with her and will take her back with him when he comes here. Use the memories I showed you. Convince Amy that there is no hope of escape. Once that's done, then I can begin to influence her and convince her to stay here and become my queen. And Grunt…if you beat her up, I'll beat you up and won't stop until you're an inch away from death's door. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Good, now listen closely. Here's what we're going to do."

Amy lay on the bed staring up at the ceiling. She wondered where the Doctor was now and if he was safe. She shook her head wondering if she was ever going to stop thinking about him. She was going to be married and yet here she was fantasizing about her so-called imaginary friend. Even after he made it clear that they couldn't be lovers she still was imagining them as a couple. She thought back to the kiss and how long it took before the Doctor finally pushed her away. For a few seconds he was even getting into it which made her wonder if he really did want her and was reluctant because she was human. She shook her head again.

"Stop it. You're marrying Rory," she chided herself. "The Doctor is your friend, your traveling companion but he can never be your lover."

She let out a sigh, wondering what it was about the Doctor that made her obsess over him. While she lay there, she heard the door unlock and sat up, tensing her muscles as she readied herself for anything. What happened next took her completely by surprise. The moment the door opened, one of the large goblins shoved a young blonde woman into the room and quickly shut and locked the door behind her. Amy stared at her. She was around her age with shoulder length blonde hair and she had on blue jeans and a pink t-shirt with rips in it and a ripped black leather jacket. She could see cuts and bruises on her face and figured she must have put up a good fight. Amy slid her legs over and sat on the side of the bed while the newcomer looked around the room in confusion. Her eyes settled on Amy.

"What is this place?" the blonde said to her.

"It's the palace of Jareth, the Goblin King," Amy said as the blonde came over and sat down beside her. "I'm being held prisoner here and I guess you are as well."

The blonde nodded.

"Yeah, I was walking and I passed by this wall and there was this huge crack and it opened and I got pulled through by some ugly creatures. I tried to resist and they beat me up and brought me in here. I'm Rose…Rose Tyler."

"Amy Pond," she said.

She paused a moment in thought. She had heard the Doctor mention Rose Tyler before, just in passing. Was this one of his former companions?

"Do you know the Doctor by any chance?" Amy said.

Rose was looking around the room. She jerked her head around and stared at her.

"You know the Doctor?" she said.

"Yes. I'm traveling with him. There's this humongous maze just outside the castle and he's somewhere inside it."

"He's coming here?" Rose said hopefully.

"Yeah. At least I hope he is. I hope he's not hurt. Did you used to travel with him?"

"Yes. He and I…we were lovers but we were separated and I've been trying to find him again."

Amy was taken aback at this.

"Are you…human?" she asked.

"Yeah, I am. Why?" Rose said frowning.

"Well, it's just that…he told me that he won't date humans because he's a Time Lord and it wouldn't work out."

"I don't know about that, mate. All I know is he and I had a very intense relationship," Rose said. "We were going to get married when I got pulled into another universe."

"What?" Amy said, scarcely believing her ears. "You…you were gonna marry him?"

Rose held up her hand and showed her an engagement ring with a large pink diamond.

"This is my engagement ring. He told me he got the diamond from the moon of Zandor. It's very rare and priceless. He gave it to me a week before I was pulled into the other universe. He told me that no matter what happened he would always come for me and I believe that. And now I must be back in my original universe if he's here. Oh, I can't wait to see him…"

"He lied."

Rose fell silent for a moment.

"I'm sorry?" she said.

"He lied. He lies, he always lies to me," Amy said bitterly as she fingered the edge of the duvet. "I'm sick of his lies."

"Amy, I'm sorry. Maybe he lied in order to spare your feelings. You love him, yeah?"

Amy nodded as she stared at the duvet and Rose put her hand on her shoulder.

"The Doctor wouldn't lie without a good reason," she said.

"Yeah, he told me as much. Told me I had to trust him even if he did lie to me. But you know what? I'm tired of being lied to. I don't like it. I trust him with my life on a daily basis and I deserve to know what's going on. If you and he were going to be married why didn't he just say so?"

"Like I said, maybe he was afraid it'd upset you too much and he lied to protect your feelings," Rose said with a shrug. "I'm sorry if I upset ya."

"No, it's fine," Amy said, brushing a tear off her cheek. "I'd rather know the truth, no matter how painful it is. I just hope…I hope the Doctor finds us."

Rose nodded and placed a sympathetic hand on Amy's shoulder. Amy smiled weakly at the gesture before getting up and going out onto the balcony. Grunt, still in disguise, turned his head and watched her standing at the balcony, staring out at the Labyrinth as tears ran down her cheeks and a smirk spread over his face knowing that his master's plan was working.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The Doctor walked down the path while softly whistling and had his hands in his pockets. He was angry that he lost his sonic screwdriver but this wasn't the first time he had to be without it.

"Saved the world with no TARDIS and no sonic screwdriver, so finding Amy isn't going to be that hard," he said as he walked long and the sunlight shimmered off the leaves. Suddenly the bushes wiggled as he stopped and frowned. "What is that?"

The bushes shook when a small ball of blue fur rolled onto the path and he knelt down on his haunches, placed his wrists on his knees. The large black eyes blinked as the ball of fur sneezed and the fur shook around it.

"Bless you," the Doctor said with a smile when the bushes moved and several balls of different colored fur rolled onto the path and he stood up. "Right, this doesn't look good."

"If I were you, I'd climb up here," a voice said as the Doctor spun around in a circle and frowned.

"Who said that?" he asked when the tree to his left opened its black eyes and blinked. "Was that you?"

"Yes, now climb up or you will regret it," the tree said and the Doctor gently leaned against the bark of the tree and looked at the balls of fur.

"How can little balls of fur harm me?"

"The veejees are not as harmless as you think."

"But they are so cute," the Doctor said when a low growling sound filled the air and he looked at the bushes. The bushes shook again when a large, orange fur veejee appeared and the smaller veejees jumped up and down. The larger veejee was as tall as the Doctor and had large, yellow eyes and four rows of sharp teeth. "Let me guess. That's their mother?"

"Yes, now climb!" the tree shouted as the Doctor nodded and started climbing. The large veejee moved closer and closer as the little veejees squeaked and the Doctor climbed higher, looking down at the large veejee. It jumped up as it nipped at his feet and the Doctor climbed faster. He came to the top most branches as he sat in the nook of two branches and looked down at it.

"Now what do I do?" he asked.

"You'll just have to wait until they get bored," the tree said, watching the veejees encircling the tree and jumped up and down.

"How long will that take?"

"Oh, I'd say a week or two," the tree said and the Doctor's eyes went wide.

"I don't have that amount of time!"

"Well then, the only two options you have are you learn how to fly or jump down and run, hoping they don't catch up with you. I saw a bloke do that once but he only made it to that rock over there," the tree said and the Doctor looked at the rock only three feet from the tree.

"Great," the Doctor sighed when he heard a shrill whistle and the veejees turned, looking down the path. Suddenly a large pack of wolves ran down the path while the largest of the wolves tackled the large veejee and the large veejee screamed a high pitched scream. The wolves chomped down on the smaller veejees as they screamed and blue blood dribbled to the ground. The large veejee hopped away as the surviving smaller veejees followed it and the Doctor felt like he was going to be sick.

"You are far from home," someone said as he looked down and saw someone standing near the trunk of the tree. The figure was a tall female with a thin, flawless body and had long white hair and blue eyes. She wore tan fur boots, tight tan pants, a bronze bra covering her breasts and a white fur cape was draped over her shoulders.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked and she smiled up at him.

"My name is Yanna," Yanna said with a nod of her head and he could just see the tips of her ears sticking out from under her hair.

"You're an elf?"

"Yes, I am. Now, who are you?"

"I am the Doctor," he said and Yanna smiled, leaning against the trunk of the tree.

"Tell me, Doctor, how is it that you don't know that it's unwise to travel alone through Jareth's forest?"

"You know Jareth?"

"There isn't a creature here that doesn't know the Goblin King."

"Then you know how to get to his castle?" he asked and she snorted a laugh, patting the large wolf sitting at her feet.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Well, I need to get there," he said when he noticed that he could barely see the castle from his vantage point in the tree and swung his feet back and forth.

"What is there that makes you risk your life in order to get there?"

"My friend is there and I need to rescue her before Jareth makes her his bride."

"Oh, Great Huntress, is he doing that again?" Yanna asked as she tossed her hands into the air and he looked down at her.

"What are you on about?"

"You aren't from around here, are you?"

"Ah, no, I'm not. Care to fill me in?"

"Not sure how long ago it was, but there was this young human girl, Sarah, I think her name was, and his Goblinship fell in love with her. Now, as the story goes, she had wished that he'd take her sibling so she didn't have to care for it anymore and Jareth, being an idiot, took the brat. Now, being in love and only thinking with his pants, he challenges her to solve his labyrinth…"

"Before time is up or the baby becomes his?" the Doctor asked and she smiled.

"Yep, but Sarah proves to be smarter than he was. She gets some help and solves the labyrinth. She takes the brat and leaves. Now losing someone like that turned Jareth into a right bastard. Oh, true, he was in love with her and, according to the stories, was going to marry her but being scorned was something he would NOT tolerate! So, being pissed off, he takes it out on the rest of us. He set fire to most of the forests and his goblins hunted down my tribe, killing them," she said with a low growl in her voice and he felt his hearts aching.

"Then you'll help me?" the Doctor asked and Yanna sighed, thinking for a few seconds. Nodding, she watched him climb down the tree when he patted the bark and the tree smiled. "Now, which way do we go?"

"You and the elf will come with us!" a voice said as they turned around and the wolves gathered in front of them, growling at the two figures standing near the trees. Both of them were tall with long black hair and violet eyes. Their bodies were lean and flawless and their faces were perfect. The male wore a black tunic that was opened enough to show off his tightly muscles chest, tight grey pants with a black leather belt and black leather boots and a scabbard was strapped to his back by a strap made of gold chain. The female wore a white tunic that was opened enough to show the tops of her breasts, tight black pants with a black leather belt and black leather boots. The female held onto the reins of two white horses and two gold hoop ear rings dangled from the male's earlobes. The male roared as the wolves ran off and the Doctor growled, feeling his hearts slamming in his chest.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked, gently pulling Yanna behind him.

"I am Nol and this is my twin sister, Cycy," Nol said as Cycy nodded with a small smile and the Doctor felt a cold shiver go through him after she smiled.

"I am the Doctor," he said and Cycy walked toward him while her hips gently swayed side to side. She walked in a circle around him as she looked him over then walked back to her brother and tapped a finger on his shoulder.

"I like him. He smells like time and stars," she said and Nol gave her a look that was cold and angry.

"I don't care if he smells like wine and sweet cheese. They are coming with us," Nol said and Cycy sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, Wart, you are such a stick," she said and Nol glared at her, his nostrils flaring.

"DO NOT CALL ME WART!" he shouted and the Doctor looked at Yanna.

"Sounds to me like someone doesn't like it when big sister teases him," the Doctor said and Yanna softly laughed.

"I will have you know that I am the oldest," Nol said as he walked to the Doctor and poked a finger in his chest.

"And I will have you know that I do not like being poked!" the Doctor said as he gently slapped Nol's hand away. In one swift motion, Nol removed a sword from the scabbard as a low humming sound filled the air and he held the hilt of the sword tightly in his hands.

"How are you touch me?" he growled and Cycy sighed, walking toward him.

"Put that away, Wart," she said as he growled and pointed the sword at her, pressing the tip of the blade against her throat.

"I warn you, Sister, do not tempt me!" he growled while the Doctor arched his head toward the trees and Yanna nodded. They slowly headed for the trees but stopped when Cycy suddenly appeared in front of them and the Doctor turned around, looking at Nol standing right behind him.

"Right, mind telling me how you're doing that?" he asked and Nol frowmed, placing the sword back in the scabbard.

"They're fey," Yanna said as the Doctor made an O with his mouth and nodded.

"Now, Doctor, if you don't mind?" Cycy asked as she pointed to the horses and the Doctor sighed, nodding his head. They walked to the horses when he noticed the white feather wings and blinked. Nol and Cycy climbed onto the saddles when Cycy held her hand out and the Doctor climbed onto the back of the horse, sliding a little closer to the saddle. Yanna sat behind Nol as she wrapped her arms around his waist and the Doctor slid his arms around Cycy's waist, making her smile. He was shocked when she lifted his hands up until they were just under her breasts and leaned back against him.

"Sister, behave yourself!" Nol said as she stuck her tongue out at him and sat up. Sighing, the Doctor lowered his hands when the horses headed down the path then flew into the air and he smiled. The landscape spread out around them as the horses flew toward the mountains and the Doctor looked behind him. The labyrinth grew smaller and smaller in the distance as he sighed and felt his hearts aching.

"Amy," he whispered as the horses flew onward and the cold wind blew his hair around his head.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

For the past hour, Amy avoided any conversation with Rose apart from a few civil questions and comments. It wasn't that Rose wasn't a nice person. She seemed sweet enough. It was because of her revelation about being the Doctor's fiancée that Amy found being around her awkward and uncomfortable. She didn't know what to say to her apart from trivial things like the weather. Plus looking at her brought back the fact that the Doctor lied to her and kept her a secret. Amy stood at the balcony looking out while Rose took a nap on the bed.

_I feel like a bloody fool now_, she thought to herself as she stared out at the sky. _Throwing myself at him and all this time he was engaged to someone else. A blonde as well. Might have known. They all go for the blondes. I'm not good enough for the likes of him; I'm just his mate that he takes along for trips so he can have someone to show off to. Why would he want an ugly little thing like me when he can have the gorgeous statuesque blonde over there?_

She shook her head.

_Stop it, _she thought._ This is not going to get you out of here. Even if the Doctor doesn't want you anymore, Rory does and you have to stay alive for him. _

She turned and stared at Rose who was sleeping peacefully. As she watched her, she suddenly remembered River and her suspicions about her being married to the Doctor. She couldn't help the smirk that crept onto her face.

_You may be engaged to him now,_ she thought as she watched her. _But I have a feeling you'll be ousted out eventually._

Once again, she felt guilty for thinking that. She didn't have any reason to resent Rose like this. It wasn't her fault that the Doctor fell in love with her and asked her to be his wife before she came along. The Doctor was his own man and had a right to love who he wanted, it was the fact that he hadn't been forthcoming about his relationship with Rose that stung the most. Ever since he had met her he had constantly lied to her which made her angry. She had bit back the anger, not wanting to lose her friendship with the most amazing man she had ever met but this went too far, even with the Doctor's plea for her to trust him even though he kept hiding the truth from her. No relationship, friendship or otherwise should be built on a bed of lies and she was quickly tiring of being treated like a pet dog who was supposed to just tag along after the Doctor blindly while he did whatever he wanted. No matter what happened to them here, she resolved that she was going to sit down with her friend and have a long talk about where she fit in the scheme of things because there was only so much she was going to put up with before she called it quits.

She moved away from the balcony, heading towards the bed. She hated to wake up Rose but the two of them needed to think of an escape plan before it was too late. But as she was heading towards the bed, the door suddenly flew open and two big muscular goblin guards came into the room. To Amy's horror, they flung the duvet off Rose and pulled her from the bed.

"Wait!" Amy said, running around the bed towards them as Rose struggled. "Leave her alone! What are you doing to…"

She grunted when the guard closest to her backhanded her so hard she flew across the room and skidded across the stone floor onto the balcony. Dazed, she watched helplessly as Rose was taken from the room and the door slammed behind them.

Once they were far enough away from the door, the goblins let go of Grunt and he shapeshifted back to his real shape. The three of them fell about laughing as the larger of the guards patted him on the back.

"How'd it go, mate? Did she fall for it?" he asked Grunt.

"Yeah, I think so. I think she's beginning to doubt this Doctor bloke," Grunt said proudly.

They heard Jareth summoning them and they teleported themselves to the throne room. The moment they saw him, the three bowed reverently. After Jareth asked Grunt for a report, he eagerly filled him in on what he said and Amy's reaction. Grunt's heart soared when he saw the happy expression on his master's face.

"I knew I could rely on you, Grunt. You'll be rewarded handsomely for this," Jareth said.

"Thank you, my lord," Grunt said, bowing.

"However, I don't think this will be enough to convince her to love me. We need to do something else along with this ruse," Jareth said, pacing the room.

"My lord, have you considered the water of forgetfulness?" one of the guards asked.

"Yes, I thought about using that. But only as a last resort. The water is unpredictable and there's a chance it would not only erase her memories of the Doctor but all her memories as well and the last thing I want is for Amy Pond to be mindless. I also considered having another goblin impersonate the Doctor and pretend to hold a public execution that Amy will witness. I imagine seeing her beloved die in front of her will take the fight out of her and once she is filled with hopelessness I can possess her more easily."

Jareth sat down on his throne while the other goblins came closer to him.

"Do you wish me to impersonate the Doctor, my lord?" one of the goblins asked.

"Not yet, Tusk," Jareth said to him. "I want to consider other options first. Although…"

The goblins stared at him silently as he chuckled to himself.

"I have an idea, a way to torment the Doctor while I have some fun with my future queen," Jareth said.

"What's your idea, my lord?" Grunt asked eagerly.

Jareth leaned forward and began to explain his plan to them.

Amy sat on her bed staring at the door. Despite her feelings for Rose and her relationship with the Doctor, she was still worried about her and wondered what they might be doing to her. While she sat there, the door suddenly opened and Grunt entered with a huge bouquet of potted flowers in his hands.

"Your future husband brings you these flowers as a gift for a lovely lady," he said as he sat them down on the vanity.

"Where's Rose? What have you done with her?" Amy said, rising from the bed.

Grunt didn't answer. With a chuckle, he made an exaggerated bow and went out the door. He shut it quickly before Amy could get out and Amy sighed and sank onto the bed as she heard the door being locked. She stared at the flowers with disdain but on second look she found she couldn't stop looking at them. They resembled tiger lilies except on the petals there were tiny sparkling crystals like little diamonds that shimmered in the sunlight. The crystals caught her eye and held her attention and Amy couldn't help but marvel at the flower's beauty. She rose from the bed and walked over to them, staring at the orange flowers in an enraptured silence. She bent over to smell their fragrance and when her nose was close enough a mist suddenly shot from the center of the flowers directly into her face. Amy gagged and staggered back from the bed, waving her hand in front of her to get the stench of the gas away from her. Then suddenly, she felt her mind freezing up and her body stiffening and going immobile and she stood helplessly by the side of the bed, unable to move or speak and barely able to think. She watched in terror as the door opened and Jareth stepped into the room.

"Good evening, Amy. I hope you enjoyed my flowers," he said as the crystal came in after him. "Don't worry, the effects of the gas will wear off but not before you and I get a bit intimate. And as for the crystal, it will be recording everything for the benefit of the Doctor and once I am done, it will seek him out and show him everything. After all, I want him to see what it is he's missing since I'm sure he's never spent a night of passion with you, has he, my pet?"

Amy's heart nearly beat out of her chest and she felt Jareth take her hand.

"Lie down," he commanded.

To Amy's horror, her body did as told and she felt herself lying down on the bed. Once she was in the bed, Jareth sat down next to her and ran his finger down her cheek.

"Don't worry, Amy. You and I won't do anything of a sexual nature. When that happens, I want that to be between us. However, a little bit of fondling and kissing will be enough to satisfy me and perhaps the Doctor as well. Perhaps the Doctor will become aroused by what he sees and it'll give him more incentive to come here and save you, hmmm?"

Amy tried to shake her head and move her hands to push him away but all she could do was lie there while Jareth leaned down into her face and began to kiss her cheeks.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The winged horses flew by the treetops while the Doctor held onto Cycy and she slightly smiled, patting his hand. The mountains rose before them when the Doctor saw the golden orbs gleaming in the sunlight and the tops of towers rose up to the sky. The blue and green stones shimmered as he looked at the castle sitting in a large valley and several winged horses flew around the towers. A large stone wall surrounded the castle as a moat of deep blue water encircled the wall and a drawbridge was drawn up against the wall.

"Home Sweet Home," Cycy said as she leaned back against the Doctor's chest and he nodded, gently sitting her up. The winged horses landed as Cycy hopped down and the Doctor followed her. Nol and Yanna walked closer as the Doctor walked to Yanna and took her hand.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked and Yanna nodded.

"This way," Nol said as they walked across the cobblestones and headed for the large doors. Two guards stood on either side of the doors as their golden armor sparked in the sunlight and they both held two large spears in their hands. Crossing the large spears in a X shape, the guards looked at them when Cycy walked closer and stroked the cheek of the guard on the left.

"Open the door," she said in a husky voice as the guard swallowed hard and looked at the other guard. The guards nodded then opened the doors as they walked inside the main hall and the Doctor held Yanna close to his side. The floor was made of a white stone with golden flecks and a red carpet with gold trim cut the floor in half. Crystal chandeliers hung on the ceiling as tiny candles spread multi colored rainbows around the room and elegant paintings and tapestries hung on the walls.

"Blimey," the Doctor whispered as he looked around and noticed the elegantly carved wooden tables, marble vases with a wide variety of plants and marble statues that stood against the walls. There were also several suits of armor and one or two stuffed animals and large, marble columns held up the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were a bright white color and a spiral staircase was at the center of the hall.

"This way," Nol said as they walked to one of the large ivory doors and he made a soft grunt when he opened the door. Their footsteps echoed as they walked along the white tile floor and the room was decorated like the hallway. At the back of the room was a set of marble steps and at the top of the podium was a large gold throne. The Doctor held Yanna tighter as they walked to the bottom step and he looked up at the throne. Nol and Cycy knelt down on one knee as they bowed their heads and Yanna started shaking in the Doctor's arms.

"My queen," Cycy said as someone stood up and Doctor watched the fey queen walk down the stairs. She was tall and her lithe body was tightly muscled and flawless. Her face was perfect and her bright green eyes shimmered in the light from the chandeliers. Her hair was long and white as new fallen snow and was done up in a long braid that cascaded down her back. She wore gold sandals, a long gold dress with long sleeves, and diamond ear rings dangled from her earlobes.

"Who are you?" the fey queen asked and the Doctor coughed, giving her a small smile.

"I'm the Doctor. Who are you?" he asked and she blinked.

"I am Namini, the Lady of the Southern Spring Kingdom of the Fey," Namini said and the Doctor nodded.

"Ah, well, Your Highness, there seems to be a bit of a mix up. I was traveling through the forest in Jareth's…" the Doctor said when he saw the fire, actual fire, in her eyes and she clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth.

"You are a friend of the Goblin King?" she snarled and he backed up, holding out his right hand.

"No no no, we are definitely NOT friends! See, he's taking my friend and I want to get her back. The only problem is your…servants sort of took me out of the labyrinth and brought me here," he said as Namini walked closer and locked eyes with him.

"How do I know that this isn't a trick? Jareth is no friend of the fey. In fact, he kills my kind every day."

"Oh, sorry to hear that, but I assure you that I want nothing more than to get Amy and go home!"

"This Amy means something to you?" she asked, arching an eyebrow and the Doctor sighed.

"Well, yes, she does," he said, nodding.

"Then you have already lost, Doctor. Jareth will not release her," Namini said as the Doctor's hearts sped up in his chest and his hand shook.

"But he said…"

"Jareth says a lot of things," Namini sighed and the Doctor blinked, tilting his head to one side.

"What did he do to you?" he asked with concern in his voice and she sighed.

"It is not what he did to me but what he did to…" Namini said when the ivory door to the left opened and someone walked inside the room. She was tall with a flawless lithe body and was wearing only a thin gown and her bare feet softly slapped against the floor. Her long white hair was wild on her head as she gently pulled on some strands of it and giggled. Suddenly she spun in a circle as she laughed and hopped on the balls of her feet.

"He loves me! He does! He comes and loves me! He does! He loves me!" she sang as the Doctor let go of Yanna and looked at Namini.

"Who is that?" he asked softly and saw the sadness in Namini's eyes.

"That is my daughter, Nari. She was Jareth's wife," Namini said and the Doctor's eyes went wide.

"What? You mean he's already married?" he asked and the anger grew inside his stomach.

"Yes," Namini said and tears trickled down her cheeks. Slowly, the Doctor walked to Nari as she danced in a circled and he gently placed his hands on her shoulders, making her jump then turn around.

"Hello," she said as he looked at her eyes and felt his hearts breaking. The pupils of Nari's eyes were wide and moved around like she was trying to focus on what she was looking at.

"Hello," the Doctor said and she giggled.

"You're so skinny," she said, moving her finger down his chest to his stomach and grinned. "Are you skinny all the way down?"

"Ah!" the Doctor said when she tried to open his trousers and Cycy stood up, running to Nari.

"Easy, Little Lamb, now isn't the time for such things," she said as Nari sighed and placed her hands on her hips.

"But I want to see if he's skinny all the way down!" Nari moaned and Cycy wrapped her arms around her, hugging her.

"I'll let you watch him bathe. Now, come, we need to feed your fish," Cycy said softly and Nari's eyes went wide.

"Oh, can we feed them to my cat?" she asked and Cycy nodded, leading her out of the room. The Doctor watched as the door closed then walked to Namini and she wiped the tears from her eyes.

"What did he do to her?" the Doctor asked as he held Yanna to his side and Namini sighed.

"He became enraged after he found her talking to another fey at one of his balls. It was her cousin but it didn't matter. He tortured her to the brink of madness then he made her watch as he dissected her cousin. After he was done, he just appeared and dropped her at my feet," Namini said as the Doctor let go of Yanni and walked to Namini. He wrapped his arms around her as the tears soaked through his shirt and she pounded her fist on his shoulder.

"Sh," he hushed then sent love and comfort into her mind and Namini looked up at him. He softly smiled when she stood back and he handed her the handkerchief in his jacket pocket. She wiped her eyes then blew her nose and he shook his head when she went to hand it back.

"My Queen, what do you wish to do with them?" Nol said as she turned to him and slightly blushed at the fact that she had forgotten he was there.

"The Doctor is my guest," she said then looked at Yanna. "The elf is yours to do what you will."

"No, she isn't! She is with me!" the Doctor said and Yanna ran to him.

"I…see," Namini said then looked at Nol. "You may go."

"As you wish," Nol said as he got up and left the room. The Doctor watched him leave then looked at Namini and she wiped her eyes with the handkerchief.

"Your Highness, I really need to get going," he said and Yanna nodded.

"I will only let you leave if you promise me one thing," she said as she walked closer and locked eyes with the Doctor.

"And that is?" the Doctor said as he clenched his jaw and she stroked her finger along his cheek.

"I want your word that once you free your friend that you will KILL Jareth!" she said and the Doctor felt his blood run cold.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Well, Doctor," Namini said as she waited for his answer.

"Yes, well, you see…I don't want to kill him," the Doctor said.

"But look at what he's done to us, look at what he's done to Nari," she protested.

"Yes, I understand and I'm sorry about your daughter but an eye for an eye isn't going to solve anything. I will prevent him from doing anymore harm to your people or anyone else here but I won't kill, not unless it's a last resort and I pray that it's not. Now will you please take me back? Amy's life hangs in the balance and time is critical."

"How do you know he hasn't killed her already or driven her insane?"

"I don't which is why I wanna get to his palace as fast as possible," the Doctor said impatiently.

"How do you propose to stop him once you're there?"

The Doctor's eyes darkened.

"I have my ways," he growled. "And rest assured if he has harmed Amy, he will pay for it."

Namini studied him quietly.

"You're an unusual man, Doctor. Normally I don't like anyone who isn't fey but you are different."

"Then will you help me defeat him?" the Doctor said.

"I will but I cannot go personally, my people would never let me. However, you can choose from my people and they can go with you. But be warned, Jareth will do everything in his power to stop you from succeeding."

"And I will do the same," the Doctor said with a determined look on his face.

Just then a guard entered the room and bowed before Namini.

"Your highness, we have an intruder," he said to her.

"Well, detain this intruder then," Namini said, alarmed.

"Um…we don't know how, your highness. The intruder is…a crystal ball."

"It must be Jareth's crystal ball. It keeps following me around and taunting me," the Doctor said. "Can you convince it to come in here?"

"I don't believe that'll be a problem, sir," the guard said as the ball suddenly zoomed in the room.

The Doctor stepped around the guard and showed himself to the ball who stopped in front of him and hovered in the air.

"Well, Jareth, I'm here. What do you want?" the Doctor said impatiently.

He stepped back when a hologram came out of the ball and he saw Jareth's image standing in front of him.

"Good afternoon, Doctor. I trust you're having an easy time going through my labyrinth," Jareth said.

The Doctor stared at the image and noticed that Jareth was looking past him. He relaxed when he realized it was just a recording and Jareth, for the moment, didn't know where he was. His blood boiled when he saw the smirk on his adversary's face.

"I'm sure you're wondering what's happening to your charming companion while you're risking life and limb in my maze," Jareth said casually. "Well, I thought I'd send this little recording and show you what she's been up to or rather what we've been up to."

The Doctor didn't like the sound of that and steeled himself for what came next. His eyes bulged when the image of Jareth was replaced with himself and Amy lying on a bed. His mouth dropped open in horror when he saw Jareth snogging his friend. Worse yet, Amy seemed to be immobile as he fondled and kissed her, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, pleading with someone to help her. The Doctor could barely contain his rage as he watched Jareth pulling up her top and fondling her breasts.

"You bastard," the Doctor said between clenched teeth as Namini came up beside him.

Namini glanced at the Doctor and noticed his face was red and his eyes were ablaze with anger.

"Is this Amy?" she asked.

The Doctor barely nodded in response. Without a word, he walked out of the room and past the guards. Anger clouded his mind and he knew that he had to get away from everyone and calm down before he did something he would regret. He quickened his pace until he reached an empty corridor. With a howl of rage, he hit the wall and gritted his teeth as he pictured throttling Jareth for what he did. Amy. Sweet, innocent Amy. He vowed to protect her and he failed and now that bastard might have raped her and it was all his fault. If he hadn't been so flippant and told Jareth he didn't want to see her again she would never have been taken. He felt sick to his stomach thinking about how frightened she must have been lying there immobile and he wondered if she would ever forgive him for leaving her at his mercy. He took deep breaths getting his temper back under control. Now was not the time to fly off the handle or engage in self-recrimination, he had to keep a level head if he was going to find Amy in time. He swallowed hard and pushed the last of his rage down deep inside him just as Namini came up beside him.

"Doctor, are you alright?" she asked.

"I will be. I just needed a moment to compose myself," he said as calmly as he could.

"I listened to the rest of the message from Jareth. He said he didn't engage with sexual intercourse with Amy."

She watched as the Doctor closed his eyes in relief.

"You love her, don't you?" she asked.

The Doctor said nothing but Namini nodded.

"She is dear to you," she said.

"Yes, she is. She trusts me and I betrayed that trust when I let my anger get the better of me and gave Jareth an opportunity to take her away. I can never forgive myself for that."

"No, it's not your fault, Doctor. Jareth would have taken her regardless. What he wants, he takes. My daughter is proof of that. That's why he needs to be stopped once and for all."

The Doctor nodded.

"Then if you'll allow me to choose some of your people, I want to head back to the castle before something else happens to Amy," he said to her.

"Of course, I'll tell my attendants to ready the horses and be ready for you to leave."

"Thank you, your highness," he said.

"Please, call me Namini."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He kept the smile on his face until Namini walked away and then with a moaned "Amy," he lowered his head to his hands briefly and silently vowed to do whatever he could to rescue her and make amends for his stupidity.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

The Doctor stood near Yanna while Namini walked closer and he saw that Nol and Cycy were with her. Cycy smile at him when she walked closer and slid her arms around the Doctor's waist.

"Hello, Handsome," she said in a husky tone and the Doctor gently moved her arms off him.

"Sister!" Nol said as she turned around and scowled, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh, Wart, calm down!" she said when Namini coughed and she looked at her. "Oh, I do apologize, My Queen."

"Yes," Namini said as she walked to the Doctor and he coughed, scratching the back of his neck.

"Well, I guess we should be going," he said as Namini nodded and Cycy and Nol got onto the horses. Suddenly the door burst open when Nari, dressed in a tan tunic, dark brown trousers and tan boots, ran to them and her hair was tucked under a fur hat.

"Wait for me!" she shouted as Namini grabbed hold of her arm and Nari leered at her. "Mother, please, I want to go hunting, too!"

"They are not going hunting, Darling," Namini said and Nari blinked, a confused look on her face.

"Then what are they doing?" Nari asked then moved her arm away and walked to the Doctor. "You're the skinny man."

"Yes, I am," he said with a nod of his head and she smiled at him.

"Where are you going, Skinny Man?"

"We are going to go save my friend," he said and her eyes went wide.

"What happened to your friend?"

"Um," he said as he tried not to mention Jareth and Nari tilted her head to one side. "She was taken by a mean man and we have to hurry because he might hurt her."

"Oh, I was hurt by a man once," she said as a sad look came to her face and she sighed. "He wasn't really a man. He was a monster. But it was my fault. I was bad and he punished me."

"What did you do?" he asked even though he knew what happened.

"I was talking to someone. They were making me laugh and the mean monster didn't like that. He was the one that was supposed to make me laugh. He did, at first. He was so sweet and loving then he grew all dark and mean. He said it was my fault when he took apart the one that made me laugh. He cut off one part of his finger then the other then…Um, you're a skinny man," Nari said as she forgot what she was talking about and the Doctor sighed, nodding.

"Come, Darling, they have to leave now," Namini said as she led Nari to the door and the Doctor felt his hearts hurting. He got onto the horse when he slid behind Cycy and slid his arms around her waist. Smiling, she pulled on the reins and the horse rose into the air. The Doctor watched as the mountains became smaller in the distance and the wings made a soft whooshing sound in his ears.

After leaving the horses behind, the Doctor led the way while Cycy, Nol and Yanna followed behind him and he had his hands in his pockets. He felt naked without his sonic screwdriver as they headed down the path when they heard a sound and the Doctor stopped, looking around.

"What was that?" he asked as they walked in a small circle and he held tightly onto Yanna's hand. Suddenly five creatures bounced out from behind the trees while Nol removed his sword from the scabbard and held the hilt in his hands. The creatures were tall and were covered in bright red, yellow and orange fur and had large yellow eyes, long noses and wide mouths.

"Fireies!" Yanna said as she held the small dagger in her hand and the Fireies walked closer.

"Hey, lookie here, we have guests!" the first Firey said as it titled its head side to side and grinned.

"Well, be a gentleman and say hello," the second Firey said and the Doctor was stunned when the first Fiery took its head off and tipped it at them.

"Blimey, how do you do that?" he asked and the first Firey tossed its head into the air then caught it.

"What?"

"How do you take your head off?"

"Can't you do it?" the third Firey asked as it nearly bounced onto the Doctor's back and the Doctor turned around, looking at it.

"No, I can't!" he said and the Fireies gasped.

"But it's fun!" the fourth Firey said as it took its head off and tossed it to the fifth Firey, who used it like a football and bounced it off one knee to the other.

"Doctor, we have to go!" Nol said as the Doctor nodded then gasped when the third Firey grabbed hold of the Doctor's head and tired to take his head off.

"Blimey, it's bloody stuck!" the third Firey shouted as it pulled and the Doctor reached back, trying to get it to let go of his head.

"A little help," he shouted when Nol roared and charged at the Fireies. The Fireies ran around as he swung the sword and cut the fifth Fireies head off. It bounced to the Doctor's feet when he picked it up and watched the Fireies running into the forest. Shrugging, he tossed the head at the Fireies when they stopped and the first Firey placed its hands on its hips.

"Oi, it's not nice tossing other people's heads around!" it said while the fifth Firey picked its head up and placed it back on its shoulders.

"Yeah, you're only allowed to toss your own head," the second Firey said.

"Yeah, that's right!" the third Firey said and they walked off, tossing their heads into the air.

"This place is completely bonkers!" the Doctor whispered as they walked down the path and he placed his hands in his pockets.

Amy woke up when she opened her eyes and sat up. The room was quiet as she listened to the fire crackling in the fireplace and sighed. She shivered when she thought about Jareth kissing her and the look in his eyes as he looked at her. She had never seen such lust in someone's eyes before and he was kissing her with such savagery and passion that she thought he was trying to consume her. At one point, she thought his eyes had softened then grew dark again and she wondered why.

"Ah, you're awake!" Jareth said as he walked into the room and she moved back toward the headboard. His boot heels clicked on the floor when he walked to the bed nd sat on the foot of the bed. "Are you scared of me?"

"No, I'm repulsed by you!" she shouted and he blinked.

"Would you rather I looked like this?" he said when he waved his hands and his appearance changed to that of the Doctor.

"No, don't do that!" she shouted as he changed back and brushed the hair from his eyes.

"I could be anyone you desire," he said as she looked at him and he grinned at her. "I could. Is there someone?"

"No," she said, shaking her head and he stood up, placing his hands on his hips.

"Why don't I believe you?" he said, titling his head to one side.

"Just get out!" she shouted as he crawled onto the bed and headed toward her. Amy bolted off the bed as she headed for the door then opened the door, seeing two large goblins standing there.

"Where are y'going, Girl?" the goblin on the left asked and Amy slammed the door closed. Turning around, she looked at Jareth lying on the bed and he was lying on his left side, one leg bent up and the other leg bent under it and a large bump stuck out from his tight gray trousers.

"_Blimey," _Amy thought as she looked at the bump and Jareth grinned at her.

"Enjoying the view?" he asked as she blinked then looked at him and growled.

"Get out!" she said as he sighed, got up and walked toward her and cupped her chin in his hands. Suddenly he squeezed her chin in his hands as she winced and he locked eyes with her.

"Such a pity," he said then pushed her back and left the room and she rubbed her jaw. She walked to the mirror when she looked at her reflection and saw the bruises spreading across her jaw line. Tears dribbled down her cheeks as she turned away from the mirror and ran to the bed. Lying down, she pulled the pillow to her chest as she started sobbing and Jareth's laughed echoed in the air.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Jareth let out a frustrated growl as he stomped into his throne room. Grunt stood near his throne watching him with trepidation. Jareth was unpredictable on a good day, when he was in a bad mood he was extremely dangerous and Grunt couldn't begin to count the times that Jareth took out his wrath on random goblins who just happened to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Grunt stepped back and watched while Jareth sank down onto his throne. He hesitated when he saw Jareth stare moodily off into space. He guessed it had something to do with Amy and he figured that Jareth might have something for him to do but he was reluctant to say anything while he was angry.

"Grunt," he finally said.

"Yes…my Lord?" Grunt said hesitantly.

"Leave me; I need to be alone for the moment."

Grunt bowed and hurried out, figuring if he asked questions it would only lead to a beating from his boss. He went out of the room and closed the door behind him. Jareth watched him go and waited a couple of minutes after he left before rising and walking over to the wall, he pushed on one of the stones that made up the wall and a secret door slid open. He reached inside and grabbed a small wooden box. The top of the box had a black widow carved into it. He opened it and took out a crystal ball that was similar to the one he used. He put the box on the floor and held the crystal ball in his hands.

"I summon Morgana, dark fae of the outlands!" he said aloud. "This is Jareth, the goblin king, I command you to appear before me!"

The inside of the ball became clouded as if a mini cloud had somehow become trapped inside it. When the thick cloud parted, Jareth saw the face of a woman. She was deathly pale with long, jet black hair that hung down around her face. On her forehead was the hourglass symbol of the black widow, the creature she protected and used. The spiders protected her and assisted her when she worked her dark magiks. Morgana sighed and gave him an impatient look.

"What is it, Jareth?" she said.

"I need to you to come to my palace immediately."

"I'm a bit busy, Jareth. You called at a bad time."

"I don't care! I am the goblin king and you will obey me!"

Morgana rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath about how irritating Jareth was before she vanished from sight. There was a flash a few seconds later and Jareth nodded when she appeared in front of him clad in a long sheer black dress and black slippers. Around her neck hung a gold chain with a onyx black widow pendant. In her hands was a large black widow spider that she stroked affectionately while it rested in the palm of her left hand. She gave Jareth an impatient look while he put the ball back in its box, set the box back in the hole and closed it, hiding the box back inside the wall.

"I'm waiting, your goblin majesty," she said, "what do you want?"

"I have a problem," Jareth said, turning to face her.

"Who doesn't?" Morgana replied with a shrug. "Okay, what's the problem?"

"I'm in love with a woman."

Morgana rolled her eyes.

"And you want some sort of love spell placed over her that will make her your willing, fawning slave, is that it? Come on, Jareth, give me a bloody challenge!"

"I want something besides a love potion," Jareth replied angrily. "And watch your sarcastic tongue, Witch, before I pull it out of your head."

"What do you want me to do? Wave my hands at her and say bibbidi bobbidi boo?"

"No…I want her to be unaware that a spell has been cast over her. I don't want her to think that she's been placed under an enchantment."

"Okay, so what's your plan then?"

"I want you to make me a dress."

"Dress? What do I look like, a seamstress?"

Morgana shut her mouth when Jareth gave her a look of warning.

"Fine, what sort of dress?" she said in an effort to hurry things along so she could leave.

Jareth waved his right hand and his crystal ball appeared in his hand. He walked over to Morgana and instructed her to look into it. She did and saw the Doctor. She made a face.

"Who's this ugly geek?" she said to Jareth.

"That is Amy Pond's heart's desire," Jareth said.

"And Amy Pond is this potential girlfriend?"

"Correct."

Morgana let out a long sigh.

"Jareth, didn't you go through this before? I seem to recall another girl you had your eye on…Sarah or something like that?"

"She was a child," Jareth said, waving his hand dismissively. "Amy is a woman and I will have her for my own."

"Fine. So you want me to conjure up a dress that will make her fall hopelessly in love the moment she puts it on?"

"More than that. I want you to conjure up a dress that will cloud her eyes and make her think that I am her true love whenever she looks at me and make sure that when she looks at me she is filled with such lust that she will not only love me willingly but she will also do anything I say."

"And that's all? You just want me to make you a magical dress and I'm free to leave?"

Jareth smirked. Morgana stiffened when he ran his finger down the side of her face.

"You mean you don't enjoy my company?" he purred?

Morgana backed away from him. Jareth chuckled softly when she shot him a dirty look.

"I'm only joking, my dear Morgana," he said. "My eyes are only for my precious Amy. I have no interest in you."

Morgana had half a mind to say thank the gods for that but she kept her mouth shut and backed up so she could do her incantations. Jareth walked over to his throne and sat down. He watched with interest while Morgana recited an incantation in the fairy tongue while she waved her hands around. As she spoke, the air in front of her began to mist up and the mist slowly became thicker and thicker and stretched out until it was as tall as she was. The incantation continued while the mist began to glow with a white light. The light became a blinding radiance while Jareth watched enraptured. Then a couple of minutes after she started the spell, she finished speaking and the light and mist faded. In its place was a jet black dress with a low cut bodice, puffy sleeves. The bottom was wide and was ankle length. Across the bodice was a heart made out of black pearls. Jareth stood up, walked over and stared at it in appreciation as it floated in front of Morgana.

"Excellent. This dress is fit for a queen," Jareth said.

Morgana held out her hands and the dress floated into her arms and lay across them. She nodded to Jareth and he took it from her.

"And all I need to do is get her to put this on?" Jareth said to her.

"Yes, once the dress is on her body, the spell will cloud her mind and cause her to see you as this other man and fall hopelessly in love with you."

"Excellent. Your work is done now, you may leave," Jareth said, waving his hand dismissively as he turned and walked back to his throne.

Morgana rolled her eyes. She muttered an incantation to herself and vanished in a burst of light. Jareth stared at the dress, a smile creeping across his face as he imagined Amy wearing it.

"You will wear this dress, Amy Pond, either by choice or by force but you will be mine," he muttered.

He laid the dress across his throne and called for Grunt in a loud voice. Grunt opened the door and came back into the room. He bowed to Jareth.

"You called, my Lord?" he said.

"Yes, I wish you to go tell the kitchen staff to prepare a supper for two. I'm hungry, both for food and Amy's company and I have a very special gift to give my future queen."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

The Doctor trailed behind Yanna, Nol and Cycy as he thought about Amy and his hearts felt like lead weights in her chest. He had no idea what Jareth was doing to her as he sighed and dug his hands further into his pockets. He hadn't been this upset since he left Rose behind with his clone and the anger in his gut rumbled loud enough in his ears that it sounded like thunder.

"Wait, that is thunder," he said when silver bolts of lightning slashed across the sky and raindrops the size of pancakes splashed on the ground. Cycy, Nol and Yanna were running toward the entrance of a large cave as he followed them and dived into the cave as a bolt of lightning sliced a tree behind him cleanly in half, the smoke curling skyward like a long tail.

"Are you alright, Doctor?" Yanna asked while he spit the dirt out of his mouth and sat up.

"Yes, I'm fine. Does it normally rain like that?" he asked as he turned and the thunder roared in his ears.

"No, this is an evil omen," Yanna said as he looked at her and scrunched up his face.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to wait it out. The ground is flat enough that the water won't come in here."

"But what lives in here?" Nol asked as he looked around and the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver, scanning the cave.

"Ah, I think we might be in trouble," the Doctor said as something growled in the darkness and the sounds of heavy footsteps coming closer caused him to push Cycy and Yanna behind him. Nol had drawn his sword as he held it in his left hand and stood to the Doctor's right. The lightning lit up the cave as a large shadow moved closer and the Doctor looked down, seeing a torch sitting on the ground near his foot. Picking up the torch, the Doctor noticed the oiled rag on the end of the torch and used the sonic screwdriver to light the oiled rag. "My sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood but it does on oily rags? I need to remember that."

"What is that?" Yanna asked as he moved the torch to light what was in front of him and Ludo growled, shielding its eyes with one arm.

"Too bright," Ludo grumbled as the Doctor blinked and placed the sonic screwdriver in his pocket.

"You talk, hunh? Well, I'm the Doctor. This is Yanna, Cycy and Nol. Who are you?" the Doctor asked and Ludo snorted, wiping its nose with its arm.

"Ludo," Ludo grumbled and the Doctor nodded, his mouth opened in a small O.

"And this is your home?"

"Ludo has no home." Ludo said and the Doctor nodded.

"Just getting out of the rain then?" the Doctor asked as the rain fell harder and the puddles started growing wider and deeper.

"Uh, Doctor, about the water not coming in," Cycy said as he turned around and saw the water pouring in through the entrance of the cave.

"Oh, that is just not cricket," the Doctor said when Ludo arched its head back and yowled. "And neither is that.

"Please make it stop!" Nol shouted as Ludo yowled louder and the ground started shaking. Several large boulders rolled themselves over the entrance of the cave as the Doctor gasped and ran to the boulder.

"No, you'll seal us in!" he shouted as the boulders rolled into place and Nol growled, pointing his sword at Ludo.

"Foul Beast, you have killed us all!" he shouted when the Doctor ran to him and placed his hand on Nol's wrist.

"Ah, we need him to move the rocks," the Doctor said as Nol growled and placed the sword away. The Doctor moved the torch around as he looked at the walls of the cave when he licked a finger and held his finger in the air. The wind blew against his finger as he nodded and gently moved by Ludo, making sure not to light Ludo's fur with the flame from the torch. "Right, the wind is coming from this direction. Come on."

"But you don't know what's back there," Cycy said which made him turn around and smile at them.

"All the more reason to go exploring," he said with a wink and Nol sighed, rolling his eyes.

"He is mad," Nol whispered as Cycy walked after the Doctor and smiled.

"Yes, and oh so sexy," she said as Nol growled and they ran to catch up with the Doctor. Yanna looked up at Ludo when she yelped as the large furry arms picked her up and gently pressed her against the warm chest. She didn't know why Ludo picked her up but the fur was soft and warm and she placed her head against the fur, listening to the steady beat of Ludo's heart. Shaking its head, Ludo lumbered after the others just the boulders at the entrance of the cave shattered into dust and a shadowy figure stood in the rain. The lightning flashed as Jareth growled, his hair plastered against his head and his clothes clinging to his body, and balled his hands into fists. The roaring of the thunder masked the sound of his screaming voice when the lightning flared and Jareth vanished.

Amy sat on the bed when the door opened and Grunt walked into the room. He was holding the gown that Morgana had made and she looked at the gown then at Grunt.

"My master wishes you to wear this for supper," he said and Amy snorted.

"Not bloody likely," she said as he placed the gown on the bed and headed for the door. Before he could leave the room, Amy ran passed him then ran down the hallway and Grunt roared. She could hear him coming closer as she ran around the corner and several small gargoyles sitting on small shelves blinked their eyes open.

"Slow down!" one of the gargoyles shouted as it settled back on the shelf and snorted.

"Rude, that is," the gargoyle across from the first one said and shook its head.

"And she didn't even say she was sorry," a gargoyle farther down the hallway said as Amy ran around the corner and the gargoyle sighed. Grunt charge down the hallway as the floor shook and the gargoyles teetered on the shelves.

"Oh, that's it, I'm leaving," the first gargoyle said as it flew off the shelf and the others snorted, following close behind it.

Amy ran down the hallway when she saw an archway and ran through it, stopping short at the top of a set of stairs. Stairs went in all directions as she turned around and saw Grunt coming toward her. Running down the stairs, she stopped then looked down and saw the blackness spreading out around her. Turning to her left, she saw stairs leading up to another archway and sighed, trying to figure out how far she had to jump from one step to the other.

"Well, here goes," she said then jumped and landed on the bottom step. Grunt looked down at her as she flipped him off and Grunt growled, walking away from the archway. She headed up the stairs while Jareth, still dripping from the storm, walked down the stairs under the stairs she was walking on then stepped off the bottom step, flipped up and watched her going up the stairs.

"Going somewhere?" he asked while he folded his arms over his wet chest as she stopped then turned and looked at him.

"You're all wet," she said as he walked up to her and brushed the hair from his eyes.

"It's raining," he said as she looked at him and watched a drop of rain slowly skim down the pale flesh of his chest. Swallowing hard, she backed up the stairs when she came to the top and gasped when Grunt grabbed hold of her, lifting her into the air.

"Put me down!" she shouted, wiggling in Grunt's hands and Jareth walked closer. He clenched her jaw in his hand as he whipped her head to face him and she saw fire flickering in his eyes.

"I could have him drop you and, believe me, you wouldn't survive the fall!" he growled as he let go of her jaw and she glared at him. Amy wiggled in Grunt's arms as Jareth walked by them then stood at the top of the stairs and sighed. "Come along now. Dinner's almost ready."

The door slammed opened as Jareth walked into the room and Grunt followed close behind him with Amy dangling over Grunt's left shoulder.

"Can he put me down now?" she asked as Jareth looked at Grunt and nodded. Amy grunted as Grunt dropped her to the floor and she stood up, dusting her bottom with her hands. "That wasn't what I had in mind."

"Silence," Jareth shouted as she walked to him and glared at him.

"Look, I will tell you this one more time! Let me go!" she shouted as she poked him in the chest and he looked down.

"Did you just poke me?" he asked and she smiled.

"Yeah!" she said as she poked him again and he blinked. A small smile crossed his lips as he grabbed her wrist and kissed the back of her hand.

"That did tickle, but it's time to get dressed," he said then let go of her hand and slapped her face. Falling to the floor, she looked up at him as he walked to the door, turned and pointed to the dress. "Put that on or I will see to it that your dear Doctor doesn't live to see the dawn!"

The door slammed after Jareth and Grunt left the room and Amy slowly stood up, walking to the bed. She looked at the dress when she carefully picked it up then dropped it, hearing a loud clap of thunder. Walking to the window, she watched the rain falling as the tears rolled down her face and she placed her hand on the cold stone.

"Doctor, where are you?" she whispered then walked to the bed and picked the dress off the floor.


End file.
